MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


ON  THE 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


Joseph  Forney  Johnston 


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of  the 

Unitoersiitp  of  JJortf)  Carolina 


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Form  No.  A-369 


HON.  JOSEPH  F.  JOHNSTON 


JOSEPH  FORNEY  JOHNSTON 

(Late  a  Senator  from  Alabama) 

MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  SENATE 

AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

SIXTY-THIRD  CONGRESS 
THIRD  SESSION 


Proceedings  in  the  Senate  Proceedings  in  the  House 

January  9,  1915  January  31,  1915 


PREPARED  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF 
THE   JOINT  COMMITTEE  ON   PRINTING 


WASHINGTON 
1915 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Page. 

Proceedings  in  the  Senate 5-60 

Prayer  by  Rev.  Forrest  J.  Prettyman,  D.  D 5 

Prayer  by  Rev.  Ulysses  G.  B.  Pierce,  D;D 8 

Memorial  addresses  by — 

Mr.  John  H.  Bankhead,  of  Alabama 11 

Mr.  Jacob  H.  Gallinger,  of  New  Hampshire 21 

Mr.  John  R.  Thornton,  of  Louisiana 27 

Mr.  Knute  Nelson,  of  Minnesota 30 

Mr.  Lee  S.  Overman,  of  North  Carolina 34 

Mr.  John  D.  Works,  of  California 39 

Mr.  Morris  Sheppard,  of  Texas 40 

Mr.  Henry  F.  Ashurst,  of  Arizona 44 

Mr.  John  Sharp  Williams,  of  Mississippi 48 

Mr.  Francis  S.  White,  of  Alabama 52 

Proceedings  in  the  House 61-98 

Prayer  by  Rev.  Henry  N.  Couden,  D.  D 64 

Memorial  addresses  by — 

Mr.  Oscar  W.  Underwood,  of  Alabama 67 

Mr.  Edwin  Y.  Webb,  of  North  Carolina 71 

Mr.  George  W.  Taylor,  of  Alabama 70 

Mr.  John  L.  Burnett,  of  Alabama r/9 

Mr.  Richard  W.  Austin,  of  Tennessee 82 

Mr.  J.  Thomas  Heflin,  of  Alabama 84 

Mr.  John  W.  Abercrombie,  of  Alabama 86 

Mr.  William  O.  Mulkey,  of  Alabama 91 


[31 


DEATH  OF  HON.  JOSEPH  FORNEY  JOHNSTON 


Proceedings  in  the  Senate 

Friday,  August  8,  1913. 
The  Chaplain,  Rev.  Forrest  J.  Prettyman,  D.  D.,  offered 
the  following  prayer: 

Almighty  God,  we  come  to  Thee  this  morning  in  the 
midst  of  a  great  sorrow  that  has  fallen  upon  our  national 
life.  One  whom  Thou  didst  honor,  calling  him  to  places 
of  power  and  authority,  who  was  honored  by  his  fellow 
citizens  of  a  great  State,  called  to  be  their  leader  in  public 
affairs,  this  hero  of  the  past,  this  great  true  man,  has 
passed  on  to  the  great  beyond. 

We  remember  with  reverence  and  with  deepest  affec- 
tion the  lives  of  the  worthy  fathers  whose  characters 
were  forged  in  the  furnace  of  the  conflicts  of  the  past, 
who  came  out  of  the  furnace  unsoiled  and  stood  for  the 
highest,  the  truest,  and  the  best.  As  these  fathers  pass 
on  to  the  beyond,  give  to  us  the  inheritance  of  their  char- 
acter and  the  inspiration  of  their  example. 

We  pray  that  Thou  wilt  sanctify  unto  us  the  bereave- 
ment of  this  hour,  teaching  us  the  uncertainties  of  life, 
giving  to  us  the  real  concern  for  the  highest  ideals  of  life, 
as  we  gather  these  inspirations  out  of  the  characters  of 
the  men  whom  Thou  dost  call  into  leadership  in  this 
great  country. 

Guide  us,  we  pray  Thee,  in  all  our  ways.  Help  us  to 
follow  the  path  of  duty  and  honor  until  at  last  we,  too, 


[5] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

shall    be    gathered    to    our   fathers.      For   Christ's   sake. 
Amen. 

The  Secretary  proceeded  to  read  the  Journal  of  yester- 
day's proceedings,  when,  on  request  of  Mr.  Smoot  and 
by  unanimous  consent,  the  further  reading  was  dispensed 
with  and  the  Journal  was  approved. 

Mr.  Overman.  Mr.  President,  in  the  absence  of  the 
surviving  Senator  from  Alabama  it  becomes  my  sad  and 
painful  duty  to  announce  the  death  of  Senator  Johnston. 
The  end  that  comes  to  us  all  found  him  this  morning  at 
8.30  o'clock  in  his  apartment  house  in  this  city,  sur- 
rounded by  his  stricken  wife,  his  devoted  son,  and  loving 
friends. 

A  prince  among  men,  a  gallant  Confederate  soldier,  an 
able  governor,  a  great  Senator,  a  true  patriot,  a  faithful 
and  loyal  friend  has  passed  from  this  world  of  strife 
and  bitterness  and  has  crossed  over  the  river  to  rest 
under  the  shade  of  the  trees  in  a  better  land  of  peace, 
happiness,  and  eternal  rest. 

I  would  ask  the  Senate  that  a  public  funeral  in  the 
Senate  Chamber  be  observed,  but  his  family  desire  that 
his  funeral  shall  be  of  the  simplest  character. 

The  Senator  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Bankhead]  at  a  future 
time  will  ask  the  Senate  to  set  apart  a  day  that  fitting 
tribute  may  be  paid  to  his  memory  and  his  long  and 
faithful  services. 

I  offer  the  resolutions  which  I  send  to  the  desk. 

The  Vice  President.  The  Secretary  will  read  the  reso- 
lutions submitted  by  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina. 

The  resolutions  were  read,  considered  by  unanimous 
consent,  and  unanimously  agreed  to,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  heard  with  deep  regret  and  pro- 
found sorrow  of  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  Forney  Johnston, 
late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Alabama. 

[6] 


Proceedings  in  the  Senate 


Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  17  Senators  be  appointed  by  the 
Vice  President  to  take  order  for  superintending  the  funeral  of 
Mr.  Johnston. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  his  remains  be  re- 
moved from  his  late  home  in  this  city  to  Birmingham,  Ala.,  for 
burial,  in  charge  of  the  Sergeant  at  Arms,  attended  by  the  com- 
mittee, who  shall  have  full  power  to  carry  these  resolutions  into 
effect. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  these  proceedings  to 
the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  Vice  President  appointed,  under  the  second  reso- 
lution, Mr.  Bankhead,  Mr.  Bacon,  Mr.  Overman,  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  Mr.  Hitchcock,  Mr.  Clarke  of  Arkansas, 
Mr.  Vardaman,  Mr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Swanson,  Mr.  Smith  of 
South  Carolina,  Mr.  Thornton,  Mr.  Gallinger,  Mr.  War- 
ren, Mr.  Bristow,  Mr.  Catron,  Mr.  Brady,  and  Mr.  Kenyon 
as  the  committee  on  the  part  of  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Overman.  Mr.  President,  I  move,  as  a  further  mark 
of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased  Senator,  that 
the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  unanimously  agreed  to;  and  (at  12 
o'clock  and  7  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned  until 
to-morrow,  Saturday,  August  9,  1913,  at  12  o'clock  me- 
ridian. 


Thursday,  December  17,  191k. 
Mr.  Bankhead.  Mr.  President,  I  desire  to  give  notice 
that  on  Saturday,  January  9,  immediately  after  the  rou- 
tine morning  business,  I  shall  ask  the  Senate  to  consider 
resolutions  in  commemoration  of  the  life,  character,  and 
public  services  of  my  late  colleague,  Hon.  Joseph  Forney 
Johnston. 


[7] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

Saturday,  January  9,  1915. 
Rev.  Ulysses  G.  B.  Pierce,  D.  D.,  of  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, offered  the  following  prayer: 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  Thou  hast  prom- 
ised that  Thou  wilt  never  leave  us  nor  forsake  us.  Ful- 
fill unto  us  now,  we  beseech  Thee,  Thine  own  gracious 
word  and  be  with  us  at  this  tender  and  holy  hour.  Thou 
hast  called  us  to  this  day  and  to  this  hour,  nor  do  we 
come,  our  Father,  empty  handed,  but  we  come  bringing 
the  most  precious  gift  that  Thou  dost  grant  unto  us  to 
present  to  Thee,  for  we  come  bringing  to  Thee  the  mem- 
ory of  one  who  was  dear  to  Thee,  and  therefore  dear  to 
us,  the  memory  of  one  whom  we  loved  because  Thou 
didst  first  love.  Though  we  behold  not  now  his  face 
and  listen  in  vain  for  his  voice,  yet  we  can  not,  our 
Father,  forget  the  honored  companion,  the  wise  coun- 
selor, the  faithful  public  servant.  We  thank  Thee  not 
as  we  would  but  as  we  may  for  the  life  and  the  public 
services  of  him  whom  this  day  our  lips  shall  name. 

We  remember  before  Thee  those  to  whom  this  loss  is 
most  sore  and  whose  grief  it  is  beyond  our  words  to  re- 
pair. Give  unto  them,  we  pray  Thee,  Thou  most  gracious 
One,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  beauty  for  ashes,  and  the 
garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness.  Lead  them 
by  the  still  waters  of  Thy  grace.  Grant  that  the  rod  of 
Thy  faithfulness  and  the  staff  of  Thy  providence  may  be 
their  comfort;  and  grant  that  neither  the  present  with  its 
sorrows,  nor  the  future  with  its  uncertainty,  nor  the 
height  of  their  love  nor  the  depth  of  their  grief  may  be 
able  to  separate  them  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  And  unto  Thee,  our  Father,  who 
loved  us  with  an  everlasting  love  and  hast  given  us  com- 
fort and  good  hopes  through  the  gospel,  unto  Thee  be  the 
glory,  the  praise,  the  dominion,  and  power,  now  and 
forevermore.     Amen. 

[8] 


Proceedings  in  the  Senate 


Mr.  Bankhead.  Mr.  President,  pursuant  to  the  notice 
given  on  December  17  last  I  offer  the  resolutions  which 
I  send  to  the  desk  and  ask  unanimous  consent  for  their 
present  consideration. 

The  resolutions  (S.  Res.  516)  were  read,  considered  by 
unanimous  consent,  and  unanimously  agreed  to,  as 
follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  heard  with  profound  sorrow  of 
the  death  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  F.  Johnston,  late  a  Senator  from  the 
State  of  Alabama. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  de- 
ceased the  business  of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended  to  enable  his 
associates  to  pay  proper  tribute  to  his  high  character  and  distin- 
guished public  services. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  a  copy  of  these  reso- 
lutions to  the  House  of  Representatives  and  transmit  a  copy 
thereof  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 


[9] 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


Address  of  Mr.  Bankhead,  of  Alabama 

Mr.  President:  It  is  one  of  the  inscrutable  mysteries 
of  creation,  if  not  the  most  lamentable  tragedy  of  human 
existence,  that  when  a  man  reaches  the  fullest  maturity 
of  wisdom  and  attains  the  ripest  development  of  temper 
and  judgment,  then  he  must  die.  The  death  of  Senator 
Joseph  Forney  Johnston,  my  late  colleague,  adds  affirm- 
ance to  this  melancholy  contemplation. 

He  had  not  reached  his  seventieth  year,  and  was  not  an 
old  man  by  the  measure  of  patriarchs;  and  yet  out  of  the 
various  conflicts  of  a  combative  life,  out  of  the  intel- 
lectual contests  that  he  had  waged  against  master  minds 
both  in  the  forum  of  politics  and  the  activities  of  a  period 
of  marvelous  industrial  development,  out  of  the  exulta- 
tion of  his  triumphs  and  the  philosophy  of  his  disap- 
pointments, he  had  contrived  to  reach  that  eminence 
where  he  could  survey  all  human  affairs  not  only  with 
great  wisdom  but  also  with  a  great  sense  of  justice  and 
tolerance. 

Subjected  as  he  was  in  the  course  of  a  long  and  arduous 
political  life  to  many  asperities,  assailed  front  and  rear 
not  only  by  worthy  but  sometimes  by  sinister  adversaries, 
he  would  have  been  justified  in  harboring  in  his  bosom 
some  natural  resentment;  and  yet  it  is  my  firm  conviction 
that,  although  he  may  have  pitied  some  and  condoned 
others,  Senator  Johnston  died  with  peace  in  his  heart 
and  with  love  and  charity  toward  all  the  world. 

Reminded  as  I  often  am  of  the  deep  sense  of  the  loss  of 
his  comradeship  and  counsel,  deprived  as  we  all  are  of 

[11] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

his  splendid  attributes  of  geniality  and  courtesy,  I  deeply 
regret  that  there  can  not  be  conveyed  with  these  bio- 
graphical reminiscences  the  expression  of  the  real  spirit 
of  Senator  Johnston's  personality. 

Joseph  F.  Johnston,  the  eleventh  of  twelve  children, 
was  born  in  Lincoln  County,  N.  C,  March  23,  1843,  and 
was  reared  on  his  father's  farm  near  Charlotte.  His  fore- 
fathers were  of  sturdy  Scotch  stock  and  were  among  the 
early  pioneers  of  the  State  while  it  was  yet  a  colony. 
That  Senator  Johnston's  ancestors  were  men  prominent 
and  useful  in  the  public  service  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  two  of  his  kinsmen  served  as  governor  of  North 
Carolina — one,  Gabriel  Johnston,  before  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  and  the  other,  Samuel  Johnston,  during  that 
war.  That  he  inherited  in  just  measure  the  soldier  blood 
which  he  so  freely  shed  for  the  Confederacy  is  shown  by 
the  record  of  his  grandfathers  on  both  sides,  who  served 
with  distinguished  gallantry  as  colonels  of  militia  in  the 
War  for  Independence. 

At  an  early  age  he  moved  to  Shelby  County,  Ala.,  where 
his  guardian  then  resided.  Although  youth  is  ever  hope- 
ful and  fashions  for  the  future  roseate  dreams  and  high 
ambitions,  it  is  doubtful  if  this  stalwart  lad  on  his  tedious 
journey  from  his  native  State  to  his  new  home  had  the 
temerity  to  contemplate  the  high  and  ungrudged  honors 
that  Alabamians  would  in  the  reach  of  the  years  bestow 
upon  him. 

When  he  was  17  years  of  age  the  great  Civil  War  came 
upon  us.  Although  lacking  four  years  of  his  majority, 
Joe  Johnston  heard  and  answered  the  call  of  the  South 
and  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  Eighteenth  Ala- 
bama Regiment.  He  did  not  go  to  the  front  to  parade  or 
to  seek  epaulettes  or  for  any  thin  veneer  of  glory.  He 
went  to  fight. 


[12] 


Address  of  Mr.  Bankhead,  of  Alabama 

The  chronicle  of  Holy  Writ  informs  us  that  when 
David,  Prince  of  Israel,  desired,  for  unworthy  reasons, 
to  compass  the  death  of  Uriah,  the  Hittite,  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  Joab  in  command  of  his  forces  of  battle,  and  he 
sent  it  by  the  hand  of  Uriah.  "And  he  wrote  in  the 
letter  saying,  '  Set  ye  Uriah  in  the  forefront  of  the  hottest 
battle,  that  he  may  be  smitten  and  die,'  and  Joab  assigned 
Uriah  unto  a  place  where  he  knew  that  valiant  men 
wrere."  By  the  four  separate  wounds  received  by  him 
it  is  known  that  Joseph  F.  Johnston,  as  a  Confederate 
soldier,  fought  in  the  forefront  of  the  hottest  battles 
where  valiant  men  desired  to  be.  He  finished  the  service 
with  the  rank  of  captain,  won  by  virtue  of  devotion  to 
duty  and  gallantry  in  action.  Alabama  has  not  forgotten 
nor  failed  to  reward  the  services  of  her  sons  who  de- 
fended her  honor  during  the  Civil  War.  At  no  time 
since  her  people  regained  control  of  her  affairs  after  the 
days  of  reconstruction  up  to  this  hour  has  my  State 
ever  been  represented  in  this  great  body  save  by  a  Con- 
federate soldier. 

After  the  war  Capt.  Johnston  returned  to  Alabama  and 
began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  his  kinsman,  Gen. 
William  H.  Forney,  another  great  Alabamian,  who  with 
signal  ability  served  his  State  and  country  for  a  number 
of  years  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  Upon  admis- 
sion to  the  bar  he  located  at  Selma,  Ala.,  which  was  also 
the  home  of  the  late  lamented  Senators  John  T.  Morgan 
and  Edmund  W.  Pettus. 

Those  were  perilous  times  in  the  days  of  the  South,  and 
especially  so  in  the  Black  Belt  section  of  Alabama,  where 
the  Senator  then  lived.  It  is  rather  difficult,  even  in 
retrospect,  to  recall  now  the  tumult  and  the  passion  in 
which  our  southern  people  were  embroiled  on  account 
of  the  conditions  imposed  upon  us  by  the  blunders  of 
reconstruction.     It  was  a  desperate,  an  unyielding,  and  a 

[13] 


Memorial  Addresses:   Senator  Johnston 


relentless  struggle  to  sustain  the  traditions  of  our  fathers 
and  the  social  integrity  of  our  race. 

As  evidencing  the  political  conditions  with  which  as  a 
young  citizen  Capt.  Johnston  and  his  people  were  con- 
fronted at  that  time,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  quote  the 
following  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  by  Senator 
Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  of  Indiana,  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives on  March  23,  1872: 

From  turret  to  foundation  you  tore  down  the  governments  of 
11  States.  You  left  not  one  stone  upon  another.  You  rent  all 
their  local  laws  and  machinery  into  fragments  and  trampled  upon 
their  ruins.  Not  a  vestige  of  their  former  construction  remained. 
Their  pillars,  their  rafters,  their  beams,  and  all  their  deep-laid 
corners,  the  work  of  a  wise  and  devoted  generation  of  the  past, 
were  all  dragged  away,  and  the  sites  where  they  once  stood  left 
naked  for  the  erection  of  new  and  different  structures.  You  re- 
moved the  rubbish,  pushed  the  Army  into  the  vacant  ground, 
established  provisional  governments  as  you  would  over  territory 
just  acquired  by  conquest  from  a  foreign  power,  and  clothed 
brigadier  and  major  generals  with  extraordinary  functions  as 
governors. 

With  reference  to  this  part  of  his  career,  a  friend,  in 
writing  a  brief  sketch  of  the  Senator,  said,  in  1907: 

His  first  public  service  after  the  disbanding  of  the  Confederate 
Army  was  in  connection  with  the  overthrow  of  Africanism  in 
Alabama.  Residents  of  the  Black  Belt  counties  need  not  be  retold 
of  the  nature  of  Capt.  Johnston's  services  in  those  days.  He 
did  not  waste  Jehovah's  good  time  in  persuading  the  black  man 
that  the  entire  theory  of  republican  government  is  repugnant  to 
the  domination  of  the  illiterate  and  degenerate,  though  that  was 
a  constitutional  question  of  lofty  interest  and  truth.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  acted.  Organizing  the  famous  "Lightning  Committee," 
whose  purposes  were  practical  and  not  academic,  he  and  his 
patriotic  associates  kept  Dallas  County  habitable  for  the  white 
man  until  good  government  had  been  fullv  restored  in  the  State. 


[14] 


Address  of  Mr.  Bankhead,  of  Alabama 

And  so  it  was  amid  such  turbulent  surroundings  that 
Capt.  Johnston  entered  the  arena  of  politics  and  public 
life  and  began  that  long  struggle  for  civic  leadership 
which,  through  the  varying  vicissitudes  of  triumph  and 
disaster,  culminated  in  the  achievement  of  the  highest 
honor  within  the  bestowal  of  a  grateful  and  affectionate 
people — their  commission  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States. 

Senator  Johnston  continued  to  practice  his  profession 
at  Selma  until  the  year  1883,  when  he  foresaw  the  possi- 
bilities of  Birmingham  as  the  industrial  metropolis  of  the 
South,  and  moved  to  that  city  when  it  only  had  a  popula- 
tion of  3,000  people.  He  was  offered  and  accepted  the 
presidency  of  the  Alabama  National  Bank,  and  remained 
at  the  head  of  that  institution  for  many  years.  When 
the  Sloss  Iron  &  Steel  Co.,  the  pioneer  iron-making  cor- 
poration of  the  district,  was  organized,  he  was  elected 
its  first  president,  and  financed  and  conducted  it  success- 
fully, and  from  that  time  on  to  his  death  was  identified 
as  one  of  the  leading  figures  in  the  industrial  and  civic 
development  of  what  is  now  a  great  city. 

In  the  campaign  of  1890  he  wras  a  candidate  for  the 
Democratic  nomination  for  governor,  but  was  defeated. 
In  1894  Senator  Johnston  made  his  second  race  for  the 
office  of  governor  of  Alabama,  but  was  again  defeated  by 
Gen.  William  C.  Oates.  This  contest  was  exceedingly 
close  and  was  not  settled  until  the  State  convention  met, 
when  Gen.  Oates  was  nominated  by  a  narrow  margin. 
Undismayed  by  two  defeats,  in  1896  Senator  Johnston 
made  his  third  and  successful  race  for  chief  executive  of 
the  State,  and  in  1898  was  renominated  without  opposi- 
tion and  elected. 

During  the  last  administration  of  Gov.  Johnston  the 
question  of  the  constitutional  convention  for  the  State 
became  a  leading  issue,  and  the  legislature  in  1898  passed 

[15] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

an  act  providing  for  the  holding  of  an  election  to  deter- 
mine whether  or  not  a  convention  should  be  held.  This 
act  was  approved  by  Gov.  Johnston.  Thereafter,  how- 
ever, Gov.  Johnston  decided  to  throw  the  weight  of  his 
influence  against  holding  the  convention.  He  called  an 
extra  session  of  the  legislature  to  repeal  the  convention 
act,  and  the  legislature  not  only  repealed  the  act  but 
refused  to  submit  the  question  of  a  suffrage  amendment 
to  the  constitution  to  a  vote  of  the  people.  This  act  upon 
the  part  of  Gov.  Johnston  temporarily  alienated  from 
him  many  of  his  political  admirers,  but  no  man  ever 
questioned  that  in  his  conduct  on  this  matter  he  was 
actuated  by  the  highest  and  purest  motives.  In  1900 
Gov.  Johnston  was  a  candidate  for  the  United  States 
Senate  against  John  T.  Morgan,  but  was  defeated  in  the 
primary  election.  It  could  not  be  said,  however,  in  dis- 
paragement of  any  candidate  that  he  was  defeated  by 
John  T.  Morgan,  for  the  man  did  not  live  in  that  State 
who  could  compass  the  defeat  of  Senator  Morgan  as  long 
as  he  offered  for  the  position.  Gov.  Johnston  in  the 
hour  of  his  defeat  did  not  sulk  or  repine.  He  accepted 
the  situation  with  good  grace  and  announced  that  as  a 
Democrat  he  abided  by  the  will  of  his  party. 

In  1902  the  leading  issue  was  the  ratification  of  the 
new  constitution,  and  Gov.  Johnston  again  announced 
as  a  candidate  for  the  gubernatorial  nomination  against 
Gov.  W.  D.  Jelks  on  the  platform  of  opposition  to  the 
ratification  of  the  constitution,  which  resulted  in  another 
defeat.  But  defeat  to  the  indomitable  spirit  of  Senator 
Johnston  only  served  to  spur  his  ambition  to  renewed 
efforts  and  activity. 

In  1906  the  Democratic  State  committee  agreed  upon 
the  plan  of  nominating  in  the  primary  election  two 
"  alternate  Senators,"  which  meant  the  selection  of  two 
nominees  to  succeed  Senators  Morgan  and  Pettus  in  the 

[16] 


Address  of  Mr.  Bankhead,  of  Alabama. 

event  of  death  or  resignation  during  their  terms.  There 
were  seven  candidates  in  the  primary,  and  Senator 
Johnston,  having  received  the  second  largest  number  of 
votes,  under  the  primary  plan  succeeded  to  the  seat  of 
Senator  Pettus  upon  the  death  of  that  venerable  and 
well-beloved  Alabamian. 

If  asked  to  state  Senator  Johnston's  leading  char- 
acteristic, I  should  without  hesitation  say  that  it  was  his 
absolute  devotion  to  and  reliance  upon  his  friends.  It 
is  doubtful  if  the  political  history  of  Alabama  affords  an 
instance  of  a  public  man  who,  through  the  varying 
phases  and  tumult  of  public  life,  gained  and  absolutely 
held  a  larger  or  more  devoted  coterie  of  personal  fol- 
lowers than  did  Senator  Johnston.  And  so  it  happened 
that  throughout  the  varying  fortunes  of  his  stormy  po- 
litical career  Senator  Johnston  was  never  without  his 
close  and  devoted  personal  following  in  every  county  in 
Alabama,  whose  ardor  and  devotion  no  defeat  could  chill, 
and  who  formed  the  nucleus  of  a  force  that  never  be- 
came dissipated  and  who  were  always  eager  and  anxious 
to  be  summoned  by  their  leader  to  another  contest. 

At  the  time  when  he  was  stricken  with  his  fatal  illness 
he  had  sent  out  his  summons  of  fidelity  once  again,  and 
for  the  last  time,  and  with  the  same  unfaltering  trust  in 
his  character  and  statesmanship,  they  were  answering 
the  call  with  the  old  ardor  and  enthusiasm,  because  they 
loved  the  man,  because  they  trusted  in  the  leader,  because 
they  knew  that  he  believed  in  and  loved  them. 

It  is  a  wonderful  thing  to  contemplate  the  magnetic 
qualities  of  a  man  who  through  the  long  process  of  the 
years  can  so  lay  hold  on  the  hearts  of  hosts  of  men,  who 
in  every  controversy  affecting  public  affairs,  without 
cavil  or  question,  gave  to  their  leader  unreserved  alle- 
giance. 


87633°— 15 2  [17] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

It  was  another  of  Senator  Johnston's  leading  char- 
acteristics that  he  always  followed  his  own  counsel  and 
acted  upon  his  own  convictions.  His  was  not  a  dogmatic 
obstinacy,  but  after  patiently  hearing  all  views,  diligently 
seeking  to  inform  himself,  tolerantly  weighing  all  argu- 
ments on  a  given  proposition,  he  came  to  a  deliberate 
conclusion;  he  adhered  to  his  views  with  unfaltering 
integrity.  His  intellectual  processes  were  discursive  and 
analytical  rather  than  academic  and  ornate.  He  sought 
the  truth  of  a  proposition  rather  than  to  observe  the 
pleasing  ornamentation  by  which  the  truth  is  surrounded. 
He  delighted  to  drive  the  spear  of  question  through  the 
armored  mail  of  doubt — in  short,  his  quest  was  for  the 
verities  of  life,  of  society,  of  government,  to  the  end  that 
by  their  use  he  could  better  serve  his  people,  the  State, 
and  the  Nation. 

Any  attempt  at  recalling  the  life  and  character  of  my 
lamented  colleague  would  be  conspicuously  incomplete 
were  mention  not  made  of  the  softer  side  of  his  nature. 
He  was  not  a  man  who  wore  his  heart  upon  his  sleeve; 
he  was  not  given  to  lamentation,  nor  was  he  ostentatious 
in  the  bestowal  of  favors,  and  yet  to  those  who  really 
knew  him  his  nature  was  as  tender  as  a  child's.  The 
unswerving  and  gracious  solicitude  that  he  bestowed 
upon  the  wife  of  his  bosom  and  the  splendid  sons  who  sur- 
vive him  testifies  to  his  qualities  as  husband  and  father. 

Touching  another  of  Senator  Johnston's  chief  charac- 
teristics, well  remembered  by  his  colleagues  here  and  his 
constituency  in  Alabama,  I  desire  to  quote  an  excerpt 
from  an  editorial  in  a  Birmingham  paper  commenting 
upon  his  death: 

It  remains  to  say  a  word  about  his  humor.  Without  it  Senator 
Johnston  could  not  have  traveled  so  far  or  have  climbed  so  high. 
A  man  of  his  good,  tough  fighting  qualities  would  have  raised  up 
enemies   to   last    far   beyond   the    next    campaign.     But    Senator 


[18] 


Address  of  Mr.  Bankhead,  of  Alabama 

Johnston's  unfailing  good  humor,  his  second  nature  to  make 
his  points  with  anecdotes,  and  such  anecdotes  as  were  pure  fun, 
without  a  sting,  smoothed  down  the  rough  places  in  the  conflicts 
and  made  it  easy  to  hridge  every  difference.  And  so  in  com- 
mending to  the  rising  generation  a  study  of  the  eminent  virtues 
and  patriotism  and  the  career  of  the  dead  statesman,  we  would 
point  them  especially  to  this  shining  quality  of  qualities  in  the 
man,  that  he  walked  ever  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  road  of  life, 
saw  shadows  and  brightened  them,  felt  that  most  things  and  men 
were  good,  and  rejoiced  thereat. 

In  conclusion  I  desire  to  commend  to  the  youth  of  Ala- 
bama and  of  this  Nation  as  a  pattern  of  conception  of  and 
devotion  to  honest  conviction,  of  fearless  adherence  to 
moral  and  intellectual  standards,  a  portion  of  the  speech 
delivered  by  Senator  Johnston  in  explanation  of  his  vote 
on  a  question  that  had  attracted  national  attention  and 
invited  considerable  adverse  criticism  from  portions  of 
the  press.  From  his  own  lips  in  life  fell  the  brave  and 
manly  words  that  now  in  death  may  be  read  as  a  true 
epitaph  of  his  character.  I  quote  from  the  speech 
Senator  Johnston  made  in  the  Senate  on  the  Lorimer 
contested-election  case: 

Mr.  President,  I  entered  the  Confederate  Army  in  April,  1861, 
because  the  State  of  Alabama  had  seceded  from  the  Union,  and 
I  believed  their  cause  was  righteous  and  that  it  was  my  duty  so 
to  do.  For  four  long,  bloody  years  I  followed  the  flag  of  Dixie, 
sometimes  in  defeat  and  often  to  victory.  I  became  convinced 
before  the  surrender  that  we  could  not  succeed,  because  we  could 
not  replace  the  brave  men  who  fell  on  the  field  of  battle.  We 
were  shut  out  from  the  world,  and  could  only  draw  recruits  from 
the  cradle.  The  idea  never  came  into  my  mind  that  because  we 
must  inevitably  fail  I  should  desert  to  the  enemy.  I  stood  by  my 
colors  facing  death  and  defeat  until  Lee  and  Johnston  surren- 
dered the  fragments  of  glorious  armies  whose  fame  will  never  die. 
The  span  of  my  years  may  be  shortened  by  the  shots  stopped  by 
my  breast  in  that  failing  cause;  but,  all  in  all,  my  keenest  satisfac- 
tion in  the  past  rests  not  upon  those  moments  when  I  swam  with 

[19] 


Memorial  Addresses  :  Senator  Johnston 

the  tide,  but  when  I  bared  my  breast,  with  Ajax,  and  took  the 
lightning.  Mr.  President,  I  refuse  to  save  myself  at  the  sacrifice 
of  my  convictions  and  my  honor.  The  people  have  not  heard  the 
evidence  as  I  have.  They  have  not  taken  an  oath  to  do  impartial 
justice  according  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws.  I  have.  I 
can  not  render  judgment  upon  their  convictions,  nor  can  they 
transfer  to  themselves  my  punishment  if  I  violate  my  own.  I 
would  be  unworthy  of  my  place  if,  for  any  fears  of  public  retri- 
bution or  disapproval,  or  for  the  sake  of  securing  popular  favor, 
I  should  disregard  the  convictions  of  my  judgment  and  con- 
science. If  every  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Alabama  and 
every  citizen  of  the  State  should  demand  that  I  should  yield  to 
the  popular  clamor  for  the  conviction  of  anyone  upon  their  belief 
about  the  facts  contrary  to  my  judgment,  my  convictions,  and 
my  oath  as  a  Senator,  I  should  promptly  resign  my  commission 
and  permit  them  to  choose  a  successor  who  might  be  more  will- 
ing than  I  to  sacrifice  his  honor  and  self-respect  for  a  seat  in  the 
Senate.  I  have  taken  no  oath  and  made  no  promise  to  cast  my 
vote  according  to  the  edict  of  the  press.  I  ran  before  the  wind 
of  no  popular  temporary  issue.  I  rode  into  this  Chamber  upon 
no  hobby  selected  for  political  effect.  I  believe  that  the  dignity 
of  a  Senator  is  not  consistent  with  catchpenny  platforms,  patent 
issues,  or  maudlin  generalities,  and  that  my  presence  here  is  based 
upon  the  conviction  of  my  people  that  upon  all  public  questions 
my  experience  and  my  record  of  service  in  the  past  justified  them 
in  relying  upon  me  to  consider  patiently  each  question  in  the 
light  of  public  welfare  and  vote  my  convictions. 

During  his  service  in  the  Senate  possibly  no  other  Mem- 
ber was  more  punctual  or  constant  in  his  presence  in  the 
Chamber  during  the  sessions  of  this  body  or  attended 
with  more  regularity  his  various  committee  meetings. 

He  died  in  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  8th  day  of 
August,  1913,  and  is  buried  in  Oak  Hill  Cemetery  in  the 
city  of  Birmingham  in  the  soil  of  his  adopted  State  which 
he  loved  so  well  and  to  which  he  gave  such  valuable  patri- 
otic service. 


[20] 


Address  of  Mr.  Gallinger,  of  New  Hampshire 

Mr.  President:  Joseph  Forney  Johnston  entered  the 
Senate  in  the  year  1907  as  a  Senator  from  the  State  of 
Alabama.  Senator  Johnston  had  served  as  governor  of 
his  State,  and  had  also  been  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate 
Army,  enlisting  as  a  private  at  the  age  of  17  years.  He 
distinguished  himself  in  battle,  was  wounded  four  limes, 
and  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain.  In  spite  of  his  zeal  for 
the  Confederate  cause,  at  the  close  of  the  war  he  became 
an  earnest  advocate  of  reconstruction.  In  a  speech  de- 
livered in  the  Senate  he  said: 

I  am  glad  that  I  survived  the  war  to  support  and  aid  the 
Government  that  my  forefathers  helped  to  establish. 

That  feeling  dominated  his  life,  and  he  did  all  in  his 
power  to  weld  the  North  and  the  South  more  firmly 
together. 

Upon  Mr.  Johnston's  election  to  the  Senate,  among 
other  assignments  he  was  given  a  place  on  the  Committee 
on  the  District  of  Columbia,  of  which  committee  at  that 
time  I  was  chairman.  During  the  five  years  of  his  service 
on  that  committee  he  was  a  regular  attendant  at  the 
meetingSj  and  devoted  much  time  and  attention  to  the 
matters  brought  before  it.  On  meeting  days  he  was 
always  one  of  the  first  members  to  appear  in  the  com- 
mittee room,  and,  while  waiting  for  a  quorum,  furnished 
much  enjoyment  to  the  Senators  present  by  relating  some 
of  his  inexhaustible  stock  of  stories.  His  rendering  of  the 
negro  dialect  was  perfect,  and  his  most  amusing  anec- 
dotes dealt  with  the  colored  people,  always  in  a  good- 
natured  and  kindly  way. 


[21] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

Senator  Johnston  was  a  profound  believer  in  the 
Christian  religion,  and  made  repeated  efforts  to  secure 
the  enactment  of  a  law  for  the  more  complete  observance 
of  Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest  in  the  city  of  Washington. 
The  bill  introduced  by  him  was  passed  by  the  Senate,  but, 
much  to  the  Senator's  disappointment,  never  became  a 
law. 

For  some  time  during  his  term  of  service  in  the  Senate 
Senator  Johnston  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Privileges  and  Elections.  It  became  his  duty,  with  other 
members  of  the  committee,  to  pass  judgment  on  the 
validity  of  the  election  of  some  of  his  colleagues,  a  duty 
which  he  never  shirked,  but,  on  the  contrary,  gave  force- 
ful utterance  to  his  convictions  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate, 
never  allowing  partisan  considerations  to  influence  his 
opinions  in  the  slightest  degree. 

He  also  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Mili- 
tary Affairs,  in  which  position  he  displayed  his  usual 
broad  and  conciliatory  views.  When  his  death  occurred 
he  was  chairman  of  that  great  committee. 

Senator  Johnston  gave  much  time  and  thought  to  the 
study  of  the  negro  question.  He  was  a  true  friend  of  the 
colored  man,  and  believed,  as  he  expressed  it,  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  superior  race  to  do  what  it  could  to  de- 
velop and  enlarge  his  usefulness  and  increase  his  happi- 
ness. On  New  Year's  eve,  1907,  he  delivered  an  address 
before  the  Algonquin  Club,  of  Boston,  on  the  negro  ques- 
tion, discussing  it  with  great  frankness  and  making  a 
profound  impression  upon  his  audience. 

Senator  Johnston  endeared  himself  to  the  people  of 
New  Hampshire  in  a  peculiar  way,  and  for  that,  among 
other  reasons,  I  esteem  it  a  privilege  to  participate  in 
these  memorial  exercises.  While  governor  of  his  State 
he  visited  New  Hampshire  with  his  staff,  accompanied 


[22] 


Address  of  Mr.  Gallinger,  of  New  Hampshire 

by  his  wife  and  a  party  of  the  most  attractive  girls  of 
Alabama,  the  purpose  of  the  visit  being  to  accept  on 
behalf  of  his  State  a  bas-relief  presented  by  New  Hamp- 
shire to  the  new  battleship  Alabama,  at  that  time  lying 
with  her  sister  ship,  the  Kearsarge,  in  the  harbor  of 
Portsmouth.  The  joint  participation  in  such  a  ceremony 
in  northern  waters  of  these  two  vessels,  whose  progenitors 
had  engaged  in  the  memorable  combat  of  the  Civil  War, 
was  of  peculiar  significance,  which  Senator  Johnston 
recognized,  and  in  accepting  the  gift  of  New  Hampshire 
spoke  feelingly  of  the  ever-growing  friendship  between 
the  people  of  the  North  and  South.  One  of  the  features 
of  the  celebration  was  a  banquet  at  Hotel  Wentworth,  at 
the  close  of  which  two  crippled  veterans  presented  to 
Gov.  Johnston  two  Alabama  battle  flags  that  they  had 
captured  during  the  war.  The  governor  accepted  them 
in  a  speech  which  brought  tears  to  the  eyes  of  many  of 
those  present. 

Gov.  Johnston,  accompanied  by  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
Long,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  Frank  W.  Hackett, 
ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy  Hilary  A.  Herbert,  and  Rear 
Admiral  W.  T.  Sampson,  United  States  Navy,  with  ladies, 
arrived  in  Portsmouth  on  a  special  car  from  Boston  on 
the  17th  day  of  September,  1900.  They  were  met  at  the 
depot  by  several  hundred  people,  headed  by  a  band,  and 
were  welcomed  by  Mayor  Mclntyre  and  Hon.  Wallace 
Hackett,  of  the  reception  committee,  and  were  driven  to 
the  Hotel  Wentworth,  at  Newcastle,  a  short  distance  from 
Portsmouth.  The  company  remained  in  Portsmouth  and 
vicinity  for  three  days,  and  every  possible  courtesy  was 
bestowed  upon  the  distinguished  visitors.  There  was  a 
great  parade  and  presentation  of  the  bas-reliefs  of  the 
tablets,  followed  by  a  banquet  and  ball  at  the  Hotel  Went- 


[23] 


Memorial  Addresses  :  Senator  Johnston 

worth.     The  inscription  on  one  of  the  tablets  reads  as 
follows : 

The  State  of  New  Hampshire  to  the  U.  S.  S.  Alabama.  This 
tablet,  companion  to  that  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Kearsarge,  placed  here 
by  courtesy  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  perpetuates  in  enduring 
peace  names  once  joined  in  historic  combat. 

On  one  side  of  the  car  in  which  Gov.  Johnston  reached 
Portsmouth  was  conspicuously  displayed  the  word  "Ala- 
bama," on  another  line  the  words  "Alabama-Kearsarge," 
and  on  still  another  appeared  the  name  "  New  Hamp- 
shire." 

In  advance  of  his  arrival  Gov.  Johnston  wrote  to  Gen. 
Chadwick  about  a  flag  which  the  party  would  carry,  thus 
showing  his  great  regard  for  the  proprieties.  It  was  the 
State  flag  of  Alabama — a  red  St.  Andrew's  cross  on  a 
white  field,  with  a  yellow  hammer  on  the  staff.  The 
governor  explained  in  his  letter  that  it  was  carried  by 
a  soldier  in  the  Spanish  War,  and,  as  there  might  be 
danger  of  its  being  taken  for  a  Confederate  flag,  he 
deemed  the  explanation  necessary,  that  the  people  of 
New  Hampshire  might  fully  understand  it. 

At  the  banquet  Gov.  Johnston  made  an  eloquent  and 
touching  speech,  two  paragraphs  of  which  I  quote  from 
the  Portsmouth  Herald,  a  Republican  newspaper,  as 
follows : 

It  is  fit  that  the  Commonwealth  of  New  Hampshire,  a  Common- 
wealth the  mother  of  Webster,  that  great  apostle  of  an  indis- 
soluble Union  of  indestructible  States,  should  be  the  first,  offi- 
cially, not  only  to  rise  superior  to  the  passions  and  prejudices  of 
a  fratricidal  war,  but  to  determine  to  commemorate  and  honor 
the  gallant  deeds  of  the  American  sailor,  without  regard  to  the 
flag  which  floated  over  him. 

Men  might  differ  about  the  right  or  wrong  of  any  cause,  and 
they  may  conscientiously  take  one  side  or  the  other.  A  great 
nation  worthy  of  liberty  and  inspired  by  lofty  sentiments  can  not 
fail  to  honor  courage  and  heroism  by  whomsoever  displayed,  and 

[24] 


Address  of  Mr.  Gallinger,  of  New  Hampshire 


especially  should  it  do  so  when  those  heroes  are  descendants  of 
the  very  men  who  gave  so  freely  of  their  blood  and  treasure  to 
secure  the  independence  of  our  common  country. 

At  the  close  of  the  celebration  Gov.  Johnston  and  his 
party  were  taken  on  a  trip  through  the  White  Mountains, 
Hon.  Frank  W.  Rollins,  at  that  time  governor  of  New 
Hampshire,  being  one  of  the  party.  Gov.  Rollins  became 
greatly  attached  to  Gov.  Johnston,  and  the  two  became 
firm  friends.  I  have  received  from  Gov.  Rollins  a  letter 
containing  some  reminiscences  of  the  trip,  from  which  I 
quote  a  few  sentences : 

Every  time  the  train  stopped  Gov.  Johnston  would  go  out  on 
the  back  platform  and  make  a  speech  to  the  assembled  multitude, 
to  their  huge  delight,  for  he  always  had  something  pat  and  perti- 
nent to  say.  The  trip  was  one  of  the  pleasantest  of  my  life,  and 
I  know  that  Gov.  Johnston  enjoyed  it  greatly. 

One  of  the  curious  happenings  of  this  trip  was  the  fact  that 
Senator  Chandler  was  present,  and  he  and  Gov.  Johnston  kept 
up  a  running  fire  of  repartee,  which  was  immensely  amusing  and 
in  which  Gov.  Johnston  more  than  held  his  own. 

I  found  him  a  most  whole-souled,  honorable,  and  genial  man, 
and  I  should  imagine  him  a  very  loyal  man,  standing  strongly  for 
his  friends.  He  was  without  question  the  best  story  teller  I  ever 
knew.  When  we  took  him  through  New  England  he  kept  every- 
body in  laughter  from  the  time  he  struck  Boston  until  he  left  for 
home.  He  was  always  ready  with  an  impromptu  speech,  clever 
and  to  the  point.  He  could  illustrate  his  speeches  and  his  stories 
by  quotations  from  the  best  authors  and  from  the  Bible,  with 
which  he  was  very  familiar  and  which  he  used  with  great  effect. 

One  of  the  lovely  things  about  Gov.  Johnston — 

Says  Gov.  Rollins — 

was  his  devotion  to  his  wife  and  his  deference  to  her  wishes. 
He  was  always  consulting  her,  either  verbally  or  by  a  glance  of 
the  eye,  to  see  if  she  approved  of  his  course,  and  apparently  she 
knew  just  how  to  handle  him,  and  toward  her  he  always  exhib- 
ited extreme  tenderness  and  courtesy. 


[25] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

Mr.  President,  the  death  of  Senator  Johnston  removed 
from  this  body  a  man  whom  I  was  privileged  and  proud 
to  call  friend.  His  sweet  spirit,  his  genial  manner,  his 
delightful  companionship,  all  appealed  to  me,  and  his 
memory  will  remain  as  an  inspiration  for  all  that  is  best 
in  both  public  and  private  service.  Our  associate  has  left 
us,  never  to  return,  and  we  may  well  say,  slightly 
changing  the  words  of  the  poet : 

Again  a  parting  sail  we  see; 

Another  boat  has  left  the  shore; 
As  kind  a  soul  on  board  has  she 

As  ever  left  the  land  before; 
And  as  her  onward  course  she  bends — 
Sit  closer,  friends. 


[26] 


Address  of  Mr.  Thornton,  of  Louisiana 

Mr.  President:  Although  I  did  not  know  him  until  I 
reached  Washington  in  1910,  I  think  I  can  truthfully  say 
that  Senator  Johnston  had  no  more  intimate  relations 
with  any  of  his  brother  Senators  than  with  myself. 

We  were  thrown  together  from  my  arrival,  as  we 
lived  in  the  same  house  during  the  first  year  of  my  term, 
and  we  made  it  a  point  after  our  separation  to  seek  the 
company  of  each  other  whenever  we  could  conveniently 
do  so,  and  our  wives  found  the  same  attraction  in  each 
other's  company  from  the  beginning  as  did  their  hus- 
bands, which  was  another  link  between  the  latter. 

I  was  drawn  toward  him  by  his  strong  qualities  of 
head  and  heart,  his  dislike  of  sham  and  humbug,  the 
highly  developed  sense  of  quiet  humor  which  he  pos- 
sessed in  so  eminent  a  degree  and  which,  with  me,  adds 
to  the  attractiveness  of  its  possessors  when  not  ma- 
liciously used  by  them,  as  it  never  was  by  him,  and  also 
by  the  subtle  and  indefinable  feeling  that  exists  between 
former  Confederate  soldiers  and  serves  as  a  link  to  bind 
them  closer  together. 

It  was  to  me  that,  when  he  was  taken  with  the  illness 
that  finally  carried  him  off  after  only  a  week's  duration 
and  which  neither  he  nor  anyone  thought  in  the  begin- 
ning was  serious,  he  sent  word  requesting  that  I  would 
announce  his  necessary  absence  from  the  Senate,  and  I 
did  so  regularly  during  the  week  of  his  illness. 

I  did  not  seek  to  see  him  during  the  first  four  days  of 
his  sickness  because  each  day  I  was  expecting  his  return 
to  the  Senate  on  the  following  morning,  and  when  on 
the  fifth  day  I  learned  the  disease  had  taken  a  sudden 

[27] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

turn  for  the  worse  and  sought  to  visit  him  it  was  deemed 
best  that  he  should  receive  no  visitors,  and  I  could  only 
send  him  word  of  my  deep  solicitude  on  his  behalf  and 
of  my  prayers  for  his  recovery. 

And  so  I  never  saw  him  in  his  sickness,  and  it  is  a 
mournful  pleasure  to  me  that  the  recollection  of  his  face 
which  will  ever  abide  with  me  is  that  of  the  strong  yet 
kind  and  genial  countenance  lit  up  by  the  eyes  kindling 
with  humor  that  I  had  always  known,  rather  than  one 
drawn  by  pain  and  wasted  by  disease. 

Senator  Johnston  belonged  to  that  class  of  men  more 
generally  the  product  of  this  than  of  any  other  country, 
the  class  to  which  this  Nation  owes  more  than  to  any 
other  class  of  her  citizens,  and  the  class  I  honor  above  all 
others,  the  self-made  men  of  strong  and  virile  character 
who  rise  to  eminence  through  the  native  strength  of  their 
intellects,  the  assiduity  with  which  they  have  cultivated 
their  minds  later  in  life  when  circumstances  beyond  their 
control  prevented  them  from  doing  so  earlier,  their  con- 
scientious devotion  to  all  duties,  private  or  public,  in- 
trusted to  their  care,  coupled  with  absolute  integrity  of 
character. 

Such  a  man  was  Senator  Johnston,  and  through  the 
application  of  these  principles  throughout  life  he  rose  to 
financial  and  political  influence. 

In  every  phase  of  human  endeavor  in  which  he  em- 
barked he  played  well  and  honorably  his  part. 

True  to  his  conception  of  duty,  he  entered  the  Confed- 
erate Army  as  a  private  in  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War 
at  the  age  of  17,  and  left  it  as  a  captain  at  its  conclusion 
at  the  age  of  21,  bearing  on  and  in  his  body  four  different 
wounds  received  in  that  strife  as  a  testimonial  to  the  fact 
that  he  had  not  failed  to  discharge  his  duty  as  a  soldier. 

He  received  from  his  State  the  highest  political  honors 
she  could  bestow  on  one  of  her  citizens,  having  been  twice 

[28] 


Address  of  Mr.  Thornton,  of  Louisiana 

elected  governor  and  then  sent  to  the  United  States  Senate 
as  one  of  her  ambassadors  to  this  body,  and  he  died  in 
her  service  in  the  last  position. 

May  the  State  of  Alabama  always  continue  to  send  to 
this  body  men  of  the  type  she  has  been  universally  send- 
ing for  so  many  years,  and  thereby  continue  to  maintain 
here  the  high  prestige  she  has  established  in  the  past  and 
maintains  in  the  present  time. 

In  all  positions  of  public  honor  or  trust  he  ably  and 
worthily  discharged  his  duty  and  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  people  of  his  State,  who  had  given  him  these  proofs 
of  their  confidence. 

In  all  private  relations  of  life  he  proved  himself  the 
good  husband,  father,  kinsman,  and  friend. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  named  on  the  Senate  com- 
mittee selected  to  accompany  his  body  to  his  home,  and 
thus  I  was  permitted  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  respect  to 
his  remains. 

I  heard  the  solemn  and  beautiful  burial  service  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  Birmingham,  of  which  he  was  a 
member  and  vestryman,  read  over  his  body,  and  then 
saw  it  consigned  to  the  earth  in  the  beautiful  Oak  Hill 
Cemetery  of  that  city,  in  the  midst  of  a  great  and  sorrow- 
ing concourse  who  had  known  and  loved  and  respected 
him  in  life. 

There  may  his  body  rest  in  peace  with  his  spirit  re- 
turned to  God  who  gave  it. 


[29] 


Address  of  Mr.  Nelson,  of  Minnesota 

Mr.  President:  The  first  active  and  pronounced  work 
Senator  Johnston  entered  upon  in  his  early  youth  was 
that  of  a  soldier.  When  the  tocsin  of  the  great  Civil  War 
first  sounded  he  left  school  and  joined  the  Confederate 
Army  as  a  private,  infused  with  the  enthusiasm  and  war- 
like spirit  which  then  arose  and  prevailed  in  the  South. 
He  was  barely  17  years  old  at  that  time.  He  rose  in  the 
service  to  the  rank  of  a  captain,  and  was  wounded  on 
four  different  occasions,  once  or  twice  quite  severely. 
His  record  as  a  soldier  and  officer  was  of  a  high  order. 
He  was  noted  for  his  skill,  his  energy,  and  his  more  than 
ordinary  bravery.  That  enthusiastic  spirit  and  fervor  of 
youth,  which  swept  so  many  of  the  young  men  of  the 
South  into  the  Confederate  Army,  also  prevailed  at  the 
North,  and  swept  thousands  of  her  youth  into  the  Union 
Army.  The  war  was  fought  largely  by  boys  and  young 
men.  The  spirit  of  patriotism,  as  each  side  understood 
it  and  felt  it,  was  paramount  and  controlling.  It  was  not 
a  mercenary  war  nor  a  war  of  mercenaries.  It  was  a  war 
of  the  entire  people  of  one  section  against  the  entire  peo- 
ple of  the  other  section,  involving  fundamental  and  vital 
principles  of  government,  and  hence  when  the  god  of 
battle  had  determined  the  result  and  the  war  had  come 
to  an  end  the  veterans  of  the  North  and  the  veterans  of 
the  South  returned  to  the  avocations  of  peace,  untar- 
nished and  with  their  manhood  intact,  ready  and  willing 
to  assume  the  duties  of  citizenship  in  a  reunited  country. 
The  war  was  a  hard  school,  but  the  veterans  came  out  of 
it  with  a  purpose  and  determination  to  bear  their  full 
share  in  promoting  the  welfare,  the  progress,  and  the 
prosperity  of  our  common  country. 

[30] 


Address  of  Mr.  Nelson,  of  Minnesota 


The  historian  Macaulay  tells  us  that  when  the  Stuarts 
came  into  power  again  in  England  and  disbanded  the  old 
veterans  of  Oliver  Cromwell  it  was  feared  that  these  old 
Puritan  soldiers  had  become  so  demoralized  by  the  war 
that  they  would  prove  to  be  a  lawless  and  dangerous  ele- 
ment in  the  community.  These  fears,  however,  the  his- 
torian adds,  proved  wholly  groundless  and  unfounded. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  old  veteran  soldiers  of  many 
a  bloody  battle  field,  on  resuming  the  avocations  of  peace, 
proved  themselves  to  be  among  the  most  law-abiding, 
industrious,  and  thrifty  men  in  the  community;  and  if 
a  mechanic,  an  artisan,  or  a  skilled  laborer  in  any  com- 
munity was  found  to  be  more  sober,  more  industrious, 
and  more  prosperous  than  any  other  of  his  class  it  turned 
out  on  investigation  that  he  was  apt  to  be  one  of 
Cromwell's  veterans. 

What  proved  true  as  to  these  veterans  of  the  "  Com- 
monwealth "  has,  on  the  whole,  proved  equally  true  as 
to  the  veterans  of  our  great  Civil  War.  Disbanded  as 
warriors,  they  at  once  enlisted  in  the  great  armies  that 
were  invading  the  industrial  fields  in  all  directions  and 
rendered  good  and  faithful  service  therein.  It  was  not 
always  an  easy  matter  for  the  soldiers  of  the  North  to 
take  up  the  severed  thread  of  their  civil  life,  and,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  it  must  have  been  much  harder  for 
the  soldiers  of  the  South.  Yet  both  classes,  with  that 
fortitude  which  they  had  exemplified  as  soldiers,  took 
up  their  tasks  of  civil  pursuits  with  energy  and  perse- 
verance. With  them  peace  had  its  victories  no  less  than 
war. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Senator  Johnston  took  up  the 
study  of  the  law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  soon  be- 
came a  successful  and  much  sought  after  lawyer,  with  a 
lucrative  practice  for  that  locality. 


[31] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

In  1896  the  people  of  Alabama  had  such  confidence  in 
him  that  they  elected  him  their  governor  and  reelected 
him  in  1898.  After  serving  four  years  as  governor  he 
retired  to  private  life  until  1907,  when  he  was  elected 
United  States  Senator  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Sen- 
ator Pettus,  deceased.  He  was  also  reelected  for  the 
succeeding  full  term  ending  March  3,  1915.  Senator 
Johnston  proved  himself  a  wise,  prudent,  and  able  gov- 
ernor, and  as  such  had  the  confidence,  esteem,  and  good 
will  of  all  the  people  of  his  State. 

As  a  Member  of  this  body  he  was  active,  attentive,  and 
energetic  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  both  in  com- 
mittees and  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  While  he  was 
not  much  given  to  debate,  yet  when  he  spoke  there  were 
always  force  and  wisdom  in  what  he  said,  and  he  had 
the  attention  of  his  associates.  He  was  a  most  genial, 
kind-hearted,  and  sympathetic  man,  ready  and  willing 
to  hear  and  help  those  who  were  worthy  and  in  need  of 
assistance.  In  his  youth,  and  before  the  war  had  laid 
a  heavy  hand  on  him,  he  must  have  had  a  strong  and 
vigorous  constitution,  but  the  many  wounds  he  received 
in  battle  had  to  some  extent  undermined  his  strength 
and  vitality;  yet  he  bore  up  cheerfully  and  courageously 
under  the  burden,  while  his  mind  and  the  spirit  of  his 
youth  abided  with  him  to  the  last. 

I  have  and  have  had  many  dear  friends  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Chamber,  but  the  nearest  and  dearest  to  me 
have  always  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  old  Confederate 
soldiers.  The  memory  of  the  march,  the  bivouac,  and  the 
stress  of  battle,  though  we  were  on  opposite  sides,  has 
somehow  through  the  lapse  of  years  eliminated  all  but 
a  feeling  of  fellowship,  kinship,  and  sympathy  for  each 
other  and  an  untarnished  love  for  our  common  country. 
The  war  was  the  great  crucible  which  removed  the  dross 


[32] 


Address  of  Mr.  Nelson,  of  Minnesota 

and  left  the  pure  metal  to  survive.  We  never  knew  or 
understood  each  other  as  we  came  to  know  and  under- 
stand each  other  through  the  stress  of  war.  And  the 
knowledge  and  understanding  thus  acquired  have  bred  a 
moral  ligament  stronger  even  than  our  written  Consti- 
tution. 

Since  the  war  both  the  North  and  the  South  have 
honored  many  of  their  veterans  by  sending  them  to  the 
Halls  of  Congress.  Many  of  them  have  served  in  years 
past  in  this  body,  but  time  and  advancing  years  have 
thinned  their  ranks.  Ten,  however,  remain,  and  of  these 
five,  namely,  du  Pont,  Goff,  Warren,  Works,  and  Nelson, 
were  in  the  Union  Army,  and  five,  namely,  Bankhead, 
Catron,  Martin,  Thornton,  and  White,  were  in  the  Con- 
federate Army. 

In  a  few  years  time  will  eliminate  the  last  of  the 
veterans  from  this  Chamber,  but  let  us  hope  that  the 
memory  of  what  they  wrought  in  peace  and  in  war  will 
survive  among  the  sagas  of  our  country.  One  of  these 
old  veterans,  a  brave  and  heroic  soul,  passed  away  when 
Senator  Johnston  left  us,  left  us  in  line  of  battle,  for  his 
final  reward.  Corpl.  Nelson,  of  the  Union  Army,  pays 
this  brief  and  sincere  tribute  to  Capt.  Johnston,  of  the 
Confederate  Army— opponents  in  war  but  comrades  and 
brothers  in  peace. 


87633°— 15 3  [33] 


Address  of  Mr.  Overman,  of  North  Carolina 

Mr.  President:  Three  times  within  18  months  has  this 
Senate  Chamber  been  converted  into  a  "lodge  of  sorrow." 
Within  this  short  time  the  pale  horse  has  entered  its  por- 
tals from  whence  its  mysterious  rider,  without  warning, 
has  borne  to  the  great  beyond,  from  whence  no  traveler 
ever  returns,  three  of  our  colleagues — great  Senators  who 
served  their  country  well  and  had  endeared  themselves 
to  us  in  a  marked  degree.  They  were  suddenly  called  to 
take  a  journey  which  we  all  must  take,  solitary  and  alone, 
a  journey  which  not  only  those  who  occupy  high  positions 
of  trust,  honor,  and  influence  must  take,  but  for  this  sad 
journey  the  pale  messenger  of  death  knocks  with  impor- 
tune hand  at  all  doors.  He  enters  alike  the  house  of  the 
humble,  the  gates  of  the  great,  the  palaces  of  the  rich,  and 
the  home  of  the  poor. 

On  such  occasions  we  are  solemnly  reminded  that 
riches,  pride,  ambition,  vainglory,  strife,  bitterness,  ani- 
mosity, are  all  vanity;  that  "  the  path  of  glory  leads  but  to 
the  grave";  that  at  such  a  time  only  things  eternal  are 
worthy  of  supreme  consideration. 

Man  that  is  born  of  woman  is  of  few  days  and  full  of  sorrow. 
He  cometh  forth  like  a  flower  and  is  cut  down.  He  fleeth  like  a 
shadow  and  continueth  not. 

Beyond  the  circle  of  our  immediate  family  the  dead  are 
soon  forgotten;  and  it  is  meet  and  proper,  when  our  col- 
leagues, the  representatives  of  great  States,  depart  this 
life,  that  a  day  be  set  apart  in  order  that  there  shall  be 
some  public  reminder  and  memorial  of  their  death  to 
perpetuate  their  memory  in  the  records  of  the  Senate. 


[34] 


Address  of  Mr.  Overman,  of  North  Carolina 

Joseph  Forney  Johnston  was  born  and  reared  in  Lin- 
coln County,  N.  C,  a  small  county  situated  near  the  foot 
of  the  mountains,  a  county  full  of  historic  interest  and 
inhabited  by  a  brave  people.  Here  was  fought  the  Battle 
of  Ramseur's  Mill,  where  a  splendid  victory  was  won 
over  Cornwallis's  men.  In  the  Revolutionary  War  it  fur- 
nished two  generals — Gen.  Joseph  Graham  and  Gen. 
Peter  Forney — and  also  Maj.  Daniel  M.  Forney  and  Maj. 
Abram  Forney,  all  of  whom  fought  valiantly  in  the  cause 
of  liberty.  Of  Gen.  Forney's  family  Senator  Johnston, 
as  his  middle  name  would  indicate,  was  a  direct  de- 
scendant. 

In  the  Civil  War  this  county  furnished  one  brigadier 
general  and  two  major  generals,  all  of  whom  were  pro- 
moted from  the  ranks  for  gallantry,  and  made  fame  for 
their  State.  They  were  Gen.  Robert  F.  Hoke,  Gen. 
Stephen  D.  Ramseur,  and  Gen.  Robert  D.  Johnston,  a 
brother  of  Senator  Johnston,  who  was  promoted  several 
times  for  gallantry,  and  on  the  field  at  Gettysburg  was 
shot  five  times  while  leading  his  men  in  a  charge  in  that 
great  battle. 

Senator  Johnston  was  descended  from  fighting  stock, 
and  no  braver  man  ever  wore  the  Confederate  gray  than 
he.  He  was  in  school  when  the  war  began,  volunteered 
at  the  beginning,  and  served  four  years.  He  enlisted  as  a 
private  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain.  He  bore  upon 
his  body  four  wounds  received  in  as  many  battles. 

His  paternal  ancestors  were  no  less  brave  than  his 
maternal.  He  was  descended  from  the  brave  Scottish 
Highlanders,  the  Johnston  Clan,  who,  with  other  clans, 
after  the  destructive  battle  of  Culloden,  settled  in  the 
Old  North  State,  and  from  these  splendid  people  have 
descended  some  of  our  best  and  greatest  men. 

After  the  war,  in  1866,  Senator  Johnston  left  North 
Carolina  and  went  to  Alabama,  and  first  settled  in  Selma, 

[35] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

where  he  resided  for  18  years.  He  then  moved  to  Bir- 
mingham, where  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  upbuilding 
of  that  great  city.  He  was  not  only  a  strong  figure  in 
politics,  but  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  industrial,  finan- 
cial, and  political  progress  of  that  city  and  State.  He  was 
president  of  the  Alabama  National  Bank  and  was  the  first 
president  of  the  Sloss  Iron  &  Steel  Co.  He  was  particu- 
larly active  in  restoring  to  the  white  people  the  control 
of  that  great  State.  Recognizing  his  leadership  and 
activity  in^  their  behalf,  the  people  elected  him  governor 
of  Alabama  for  two  terms.  In  1907  he  was  unanimously 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  to  succeed  the  late 
Senator  Pettus,  and  was  reelected  in  1909.  He  was  rarely 
ever  absent  from  his  seat  in  the  Senate  and  was  one  of 
the  most  untiring  and  industrious  workers  in  this  body. 

I  knew  him  well  not  only  as  a  Senator,  but  our  personal 
relations  were  intimate.  No  one  knew  him  but  to  admire 
him.  His  evenness  of  temper,  his  courage,  his  great 
ability,  his  forbearance,  his  gentlemanly  and  courteous 
manners  I  recall  with  fondness.  These  qualities,  with 
his  inimitable  wit  and  humor,  made  men  love  and  follow 
him.     His  ready  wit  left  no  scars. 

He  never  made  a  brow  look  dark  nor  caused  a  tear  but  when 
he  died. 

He  loved  his  people  and  his  people  loved  him.  He  was 
one  of  them — their  champion,  their  guide,  their  friend. 

In  time  of  war,  when  but  a  young  man,  he  fought  in  the 
ranks  with  his  people  in  North  Carolina;  he  suffered  with 
them;  he  shared  their  sorrow  and  their  adversities;  "he 
was  with  them  in  the  burning  light  of  battle,  by  the  sol- 
emn camp  fires,  beside  the  dying  and  the  wounded,  amid 
hunger  and  cold,  and  came  back  home  with  them  in 
defeat  and  humiliation." 


[36] 


Address  of  Mr.  Overman,  of  North  Carolina 

In  the  State  of  his  adoption  during  the  terrible  days  of 
reconstruction,  amid  tumult,  amid  ruin  and  anarchy, 
amid  distress  and  tyranny  "  he  guided  his  people  through 
the  wilderness  of  woes,  helped  to  bring  them  safely  back 
to  their  rights,  and  to  restore  their  hopes.  He  helped  to 
preserve  their  priceless  honor,  their  sacred  homes,  and 
to  restore  their  liberties."  When  the  history  of  the  great 
men  of  Alabama  is  written  his  name  will  be  recorded 
there. 

To  his  family  and  his  friends  he  was  all  tenderness  and 
indulgence.  In  his  married  life  he  was  most  happy.  His 
noble  wife,  who  was  his  faithful  and  loving  companion, 
was  a  descendant  of  William  Hooper,  of  North  Carolina, 
one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Sweet  spirited,  gentle,  and  kind,  she  adorned  her  station 
in  life  and  shed  luster  and  joy  upon  his  home.  His  hap- 
piest and  most  contented  hours  were  passed  in  her  pres- 
ence, and  his  love  and  best  thoughts  centered  about  her. 
To  him  his  home  was  the  holiest  spot  on  earth.  He  loved 
and  read  his  Bible.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  rarely  did  he  miss  attending  the  Sunday 
morning  service.  In  Washington  he  and  his  lovely  wife 
every  Sunday  morning  could  be  seen  wending  their  way 
to  the  House  of  God  to  worship  Him  in  His  holiness.  He 
lived  a  patriot.  He  served  his  State  and  country  well, 
and  died  a  Christian.  What  higher  tribute  can  be  paid 
any  man? 

In  the  early  morning  of  the  8th  day  of  August,  1913,  his 
spirit  took  its  flight  to  the  home  of  the  soul  in  that  realm 
where  the  sun  never  sets  and  the  waves  of  eternity  roll. 

A  soldier,  a  leader,  a  captain  of  industry,  a  financier,  a 
governor,  a  Senator,  and  a  statesman  has  departed  this 
life;  and,  as  his  friend,  I  am  glad  to  pay  this  poor  but 
just  and  deserved  tribute  to  his  memory.     His  voice  is 


[37] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

still,  but  his  public  career  will  live  in  history.  When  he 
crossed  the  bar  he  had  no  fears  but  that  he  would  meet 
his  "Pilot  face  to  face." 

Sunset  and  evening  star, 

And  one  clear  call  for  me! 
And  may  there  be  no  moaning  of  the  bar, 

When  I  put  out  to  sea, 

But  such  a  tide  as  moving  seems  asleep, 

Too  full  for  sound  and  foam, 
When  that  which  drew  from  out  the  boundless  deep 

Turns  again  home. 

Twilight  and  evening  bell, 

And  after  that  the  dark! 
And  may  there  be  no  sadness  of  farewell, 

When  I  embark; 

For  tho'  from  out  our  bourne  of  Time  and  Place 

The  flood  may  bear  me  far, 
I  hope  to  see  my  Pilot  face  to  face 

When  I  have  crost  the  bar. 


[38] 


Address  of  Mr.  Works,  of  California 

Mr.  President:  I  have  not  prepared  any  formal  eulogy 
upon  the  life  and  character  of  Senator  Johnston.  I 
desire  only  in  a  few  simple  words  to  express  my  kindly 
appreciation  of  a  man  who  brought  so  much  of  joy  and 
happiness  and  sunshine  into  the  world.  My  acquaintance 
with  him  was  brief.  I  first  met  him  in  this  Chamber. 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  serve  with  him  upon  one  of 
the  important  committees  of  the  Senate  and  met  him 
frequently. 

What  appealed  to  me  and  drew  me  to  him  was  his 
boundless  good  humor.  The  work  of  a  United  States 
Senator  is  not  of  a  kind,  as  a  rule,  to  cheer  the  heart; 
it  is  a  round  of  incessant  toil  day  after  day,  but  Senator 
Johnston  always  met  it  cheerfully.  They  who  knew  him 
when  he  was  young  and  strong  and  vigorous  and  full  of 
worthy  ambition  may  speak  of  his  courage  and  bravery 
in  time  of  war  and  his  great  achievements  in  civil  life, 
but  I  venture  to  say  that  he  brought  more  of  good  to 
humanity  by  his  kindly  disposition,  his  brotherly  love, 
and  the  sunshine  and  sweetness  that  he  brought  not  only 
into  his  own  life  but  into  the  lives  of  those  who  asso- 
ciated with  him  than  by  deeds  of  valor  in  war  or  worthy 
achievements  in  time  of  peace.  It  was  that  quality  of 
his  nature  that,  as  the  years  go  by,  will  serve  more  than 
anything  else  to  keep  green  his  memory  in  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  those  who  have  loved  him. 


[39] 


Address  of  Mr.  Sheppard,  of  Texas 

Mr.  President:  When  Joseph  Forney  Johnston  died 
there  passed  from  earth  as  gentle  and  as  brave  a  spirit 
as  ever  dwelt  within  the  casements  of  mortality.  His 
qualities  were  of  so  rare  a  type  as  to  suggest  an  environ- 
ment of  surpassing  inspiration.  He  was  born  and 
brought  up  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina.  For  nearly 
70  years  he  illustrated  the  virtue,  the  chivalry,  the  patriot- 
ism for  which  that  Commonwealth  is  so  signal  a  synonym. 
Moreover,  the  physical  charm  of  the  land  of  his  birth 
stamped  his  budding  years  with  a  love  of  the  beautiful,  a 
reverence  for  the  divine.  For  who,  sir,  may  observe  that 
stretch  of  peak  and  plain  from  the  Blue  Ridge  to  Raleigh 
Bay,  the  island  chain  that  links  the  sounds  of  Currituck, 
of  Albemarle,  and  Pamlico,  the  shores  on  which  beats  the 
music  of  the  sea  from  Mooney  Swamp  to  Kitty  Hawk,  the 
cypress  and  the  cedar — nature's  priesthood  robed  in  moss, 
the  forest  floors  all  carpeted  with  shrub  and  plant  of  royal 
bloom,  the  azaleas  and  the  goldenrods,  the  gorges  and 
the  valleys  in  which  the  Hiwassee,  the  French  Broad,  the 
Little  Tennessee,  the  Yadkin,  the  Dan,  the  Roanoke,  the 
Catawba  bare  silver  bosoms  to  the  sapphire  skies,  the 
Great  Smoky,  the  Bald,  and  the  Unaka  Mountains  gather- 
ing about  their  shoulders  cloaks  of  spruce,  of  balsam,  and 
of  pine,  while  on  their  crests  the  rhododendrons  cluster 
among  the  clouds,  without  feeling  that  in  such  a  land 
men  well  may  rise  to  the  highest  possibilities  of  ambition 
and  achievement? 

Such  were  the  surroundings  amid  which  Joseph 
Forney  Johnston  obtained  his  first  impressions  of  the 
world,  surroundings  that  found  appreciative  response  in 


[40] 


Address  of  Mr.  Sheppard,  of  Texas 


every  fiber  of  his  being.  To  the  last  he  remained  the 
modest,  unassuming,  courageous,  courteous  gentleman  of 
the  South.  The  highest  of  honors  could  not  alter,  the 
heaviest  of  financial  responsibilities  could  not  modify, 
his  unaffected,  his  genuine,  his  wholesome  democracy  of 
thought  and  conduct.  His  frank,  clear  eye,  his  vigorous 
handclasp,  his  straightforwardness  of  speech,  all  denoted 
a  man  who  knew  neither  concealment  nor  indirection. 

While  still  a  youth  he  became  a  Confederate  soldier. 
When  he  joined  the  Confederate  Army  he  signed  a 
muster  roll  that  will  be  called  by  angel  lips  through  all 
eternity.  He  united  with  a  band  of  men  whose  devotion 
to  duty  has  furnished  a  prevision  of  the  ultimate  per- 
fection of  humanity.  What  a  welcome  his  comrades 
who  had  gone  before  must  have  given  him  as  he  reached 
the  other  shore!  With  what  precision  must  this  soldier 
of  eternal  life  have  answered  the  command  to  about  face 
and  to  salute  his  God!  What  hallelujahs  must  shake  the 
tabernacles  of  the  blessed  as  each  old  soldier,  blue  or 
gray,  arrives  to  take  his  place  in  the  ranks  that  never 
break ! 

They  are  purged  of  pride  because  they  died, 

They  know  the  worth  of  their  bays; 
They  sit  at  wine  with  the  Maidens  Nine 

And  the  Gods  of  the  Elder  Days — 
It  is  their  will  to  serve  or  be  still 

As  filteth  our  Father's  praise. 

'Tis  theirs  to  sweep  through  the  surging  deep 

Where  Azrael's  outposts  are; 
Or  buffet  a  path  through  the  Pit's  red  mouth 

When  God  goes  out  to  war, 
Or  hang  with  the  reckless  Seraphim 

On  the  rein  of  a  red-maned  star. 


[41] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

A  northern  historian  has  this  to  say  of  the  Confederate 
Army: 

Who  can  forget  it  that  once  looked  upon  it?  That  array  of  tat- 
tered uniforms  and  bright  muskets — that  body  of  incomparable 
soldiery,  which  for  four  years  carried  the  revolt  on  its  bayonets, 
opposing  a  constant  front  to  the  mighty  concentration  of  power 
brought  against  it,  which,  receiving  terrible  blows,  did  not  fail 
to  give  the  like,  and  which,  vital  in  all  its  parts,  died  only  with 
its  annihilation? 

Joseph  Forney  Johnston  served  four  years  in  that 
army  with  a  fidelity  and  courage  that  made  him  a  typical 
Confederate  soldier.  He  rose  from  private  to  captain, 
and  was  wounded  four  times.  He  contributed,  therefore, 
as  much  as  any  other  man  of  his  toil  and  zeal  and  blood 
to  make  the  military  organization  of  the  Confederacy 
worthy  of  the  remarkable  tribute  to  which  I  have  alluded. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  war  he  became  a  stalwart 
figure  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  shattered  South.  He  took 
up  his  residence  in  Alabama,  that  glorious  Common- 
wealth which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  his  principal  labors 
as  a  civilian.  As  a  lawyer  he  was  distinctly  successful; 
as  a  banker  he  demonstrated  business  ability  of  the 
highest  order.  It  is  given  to  few  men  to  achieve  such 
eminence  in  both  the  profession  of  the  law  and  the  avoca- 
tion of  banking  as  did  Joseph  Forney  Johnston.  But  this 
is  not  all.  He  acquired  so  firm  a  place  in  the  affection 
and  admiration  of  his  people  that  he  was  successively 
elevated  to  the  positions  of  governor  and  United  States 
Senator.  In  both  capacities  he  displayed  a  statesman- 
ship as  broad  as  it  was  practical.  When  the  Democracy 
assumed  control  of  the  Senate  and  the  Nation  he  was 
accorded  prominent  recognition  by  being  made  chairman 
of  one  of  the  Senate's  great  committees — the  Committee 
on  Military  Affairs.     He  gave  patient  and  sympathetic 


[42] 


Address  of  Mr.  Sheppard,  of  Texas 


attention  to  the  petitions  and  appeals  of  the  many  who 
sought  his  consideration.  His  mind  was  a  tribunal  where 
every  man  had  an  equal  chance,  a  fair  and  impartial 
hearing.  In  his  relations  with  his  brother  Senators  the 
attributes  of  a  kind  and  generous  nature,  including  an 
invincible  good  humor,  were  always  in  evidence.  I  re- 
call that  as  a  new  Member  of  this  body  I  felt  that  I  could 
always  approach  him  for  information  or  assistance  with 
perfect  freedom.  He  was  dignified  without  reserve,  firm 
without  harshness,  just  without  severity.  His  name  is 
proudly  linked  with  that  of  Alabama  and  the  Nation. 

How  false  it  is  to  say  that  such  men  die.  His  example 
has  become  a  light  to  lead  us  to  the  higher  and  the  nobler 
paths.  It  is  a  part  of  every  life  he  touched  while  on  this 
sphere,  and  it  will  be  transmitted  from  heart  to  heart, 
from  soul  to  soul,  until  the  last  mortal  shall  put  on 
immortality. 


[43] 


Address  of  Mr.  Ashurst,  of  Arizona 

Mr.  President:  When  brought  into  the  presence  of 
death  vast  and  shapeless  forms  and  images  come  crowd- 
ing themselves  on  the  mind  faster  than  we  can  put  them 
into  words.  We  mournfully  think  of  the  closely  bound 
ties  of  kin  and  fellowship  violently  sundered,  of  valuable 
attainments  and  accomplishments  lost  to  the  world,  of 
rare  and  attractive  gifts  scattered  and  dispersed;  we 
think  of  the  instability  of  all  things  human,  and  especially 
of  the  instability  of  power,  fame,  and  glory.  We  think 
of  men  and  women  of  genius,  industry,  eloquence,  wit, 
courage,  imagination,  and  fertility  of  thought  "  molder- 
ing  cold  and  low."  We  think  of  youth  with  its  enthusi- 
asms, its  high  hopes,  its  illusions,  and  its  dreams  cut  off 
in  the  morning  of  its  beauty;  we  think  of  the  dimpled, 
darling  babe  called  to  its  "  windowless  palace  of  rest " 
before  its  little  life  had  done  aught  else  than  enshrine 
itself  as  the  pride  and  joy  of  its  parents  and  the  ruler  of 
their  hearts,  and  yet  withal  we  think  of  death  as  the 
charitable  softener  of  asperities  and  enmities,  the  courier 
of  reconciliation  to  warring  factions,  and  the  messenger 
of  silence,  rest,  repose,  and  peace. 

In  Milton's  description  of  death  it  is  astonishing  with 
what  a  gloomy  pomp,  with  what  significant  and  impres- 
sive strokes  and  coloring  the  poet  finishes  the  picture  of 
the  king  of  terrors : 

The  other  Shape — 
If  shape  it  might  be  called  that  shape  had  none 
Distinguishable  in  member,  joint,  or  limb; 
Or  substance  might  be  called  that  shadow  seemed, 
For  each  seem'd  either — black  it  stood  as  Night, 
Fierce  as  ten  Furies,  terrible  as  Hell, 
And  shook  a  deadly  dart:  what  seem'd  his  head 
The  likeness  of  a  kingly  crown  had  on. 
[44] 


Address  of  Mr.  Ashurst,  of  Arizona 

In  all  literature  passages  are  to  be  found  delineating, 
portraying,  and  vividly  describing  the  horrors  of  sudden 
death.  In  all  ages  mankind  has  complained  of  the  uncer- 
tainty of  life,  but  upon  candid  and  serious  reflection  we 
inevitably  come  to  know  that  even  if  we  possessed  the 
power  to  draw  aside  the  curtain  which  mercifully  veils 
and  conceals  from  us  the  exact  time  when  we  shall  be- 
come a  part  of  the  awful  enigma  of  the  grave  very  few 
persons  would  avail  themselves  of  such  dubious  privi- 
lege. In  all  probability  those  who  dared  thus  to  tran- 
scend the  borders  of  the  finite  and  gaze  into  the  infinite 
would  during  their  remaining  years  be  wretchedly  un- 
happy and  would  live  a  life  of  bitter  and  vain  regret  that 
they  had  so  far  presumed  as  to  attempt  to  solve  the  great 
problem  of  human  destiny — the  problem  of  whence  came 
we  and  whither  are  we  going. 

If  we  knew  the  exact  hour  of  our  dissolution  the  appall- 
ing knowledge  would  overcast  the  pleasures  and  comforts 
of  existence,  it  would  hinder  the  improvement  and  indus- 
try of  the  human  race,  and  would  become  an  insupport- 
able mischief  to  human  society,  because  we  would  then 
no  longer  concern  ourselves  with  diversions,  with  pleas- 
ant conversation,  with  books,  with  laborious  tasks,  sci- 
ence, art,  progress,  cultivation,  or  with  the  business  of 
living.  Hence,  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  are  vin- 
dicated and  made  manifest  in  His  concealing  from  us 
knowledge  as  to  the  exact  time  of  our  death. 

It  is  to  reflect  upon  the  mystery  of  life  and  death,  as 
well  as  to  pay  proper  tribute  to  the  memory  of  our  late 
colleague,  Senator  Joseph  Forney  Johnston,  that  the 
Senate  pauses  in  its  labors  to-day.  Others  more  familiar 
with  the  life  work  of  the  dead  Senator  will  relate  the  his- 
tory of  his  career.  It  will  be  fitting  for  me  to  submit  a 
few  simple  words  of  appreciation  of  his  acknowledged 
ability  and  courage. 

[45] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

As  a  flash  of  lightning  in  the  dark  sometimes  discloses 
to  our  view  weather-beaten  pinnacles,  storm-riven  crags 
and  domes  and  minarets  in  the  mountains  which  years 
of  daylight  have  not  revealed  to  our  eyes,  just  so  a  crisis, 
a  dark  or  dangerous  hour  in  a  man's  career,  frequently 
calls  our  attention  to  some  valuable  attribute  of  char- 
acter, some  rare  virtue  possessed  by  him  which  years  of 
acquaintance  and  comradeship  do  not  reveal  to  his 
closest  friends.  An  example  of  Senator  Johnston's 
rugged  independence  of  thought  and  action  was  mani- 
fested one  day  in  the  Senate  when  he  differed  from  the 
majority  of  the  Senators  on  some  grave  question,  and  it 
was  suggested  that  he  would  better  abandon  his  views  or 
suffer  some  reverse  of  his  political  successes.  He  replied 
in  the  following  words : 

Mr.  President,  I  entered  the  Confederate  Army  in  April,  1861, 
because  the  State  of  Alabama  had  seceded  from  the  Union,  and  I 
believed  that  their  cause  was  righteous  and  that  it  was  my  duty 
so  to  do.  For  four  long  bloody  years  I  followed  the  flag  of  Dixie; 
sometimes  in  defeat  and  often  to  victory.  I  became  convinced 
before  the  surrender  that  we  could  not  succeed,  because  we  could 
not  replace  the  brave  men  who  fell  on  the  field  of  battle.  We 
were  shut  out  from  the  world  and  could  only  draw  recruits  from 
the  cradle.  The  idea  never  came  into  my  mind  that  because  we 
must  inevitably  fail  I  should  desert  to  the  enemy.  I  stood  by  my 
colors  facing  death  and  defeat  until  Lee  and  Johnston  surren- 
dered the  fragments  of  glorious  armies  whose  fame  will  never 
die.  The  span  of  my  years  may  be  shortened  by  the  shot  stopped 
by  my  breast  in  that  failing  cause;  but,  all  in  all,  my  keenest  satis- 
faction in  the  past  rests  not  upon  those  moments  when  I  swam 
with  the  tide,  but  when  I  bared  my  breast,  with  Ajax,  and  took 
the  lightning.  Mr.  President,  I  refuse  to  save  myself  at  the  sacri- 
fice of  my  convictions  and  my  honor. 

Such  was  the  character  of  our  departed  colleague.  He 
might  break,  but  he  would  not  bend.  After  a  life  char- 
acterized by  industry,  courage,  devotion  to  duty  as  he 


[46] 


Address  of  Mr.  Ashurst,  of  Arizona 


saw  it,  success  at  the  bar,  and  distinguished  service  as 
governor  of  Alabama  and  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  he  met  death  with  that  tranquil  and  decorous 
fortitude  which  marked  his  labors  here.  He  has  at  last 
reached  the  place  where  the  path  of  every  life  will  end, 
and  is  to-day  resting  in  that  beautiful  island  valley  of 
Avalon,  where  falls  not  hail,  or  rain,  or  any  snow. 


[47] 


Address  of  Mr.  Williams,  of  Mississippi 

Mr.  President:  When  I  was  first  elected  to  fill  a  seat 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  I  had  been  strenuously 
supported  by  an  old  comrade  who  had  been  a  schoolmate 
at  the  primary  school,  at  college,  and  at  the  university. 
It  was  only  natural  that  I  should  say  to  him  that  I  was 
at  his  behest  for  any  service  "within  my  cable  tow."  He 
responded,  "John,  I  don't  want  and  won't  want  anything 
except  one  thing;  I  want  each  year  a  copy  of  the  Congres- 
sional Directory,  so  that  I  may  read  the  autobiographical 
sketches  that  Representatives  and  Senators  prepare  of 
themselves.  I  love  to  study  human  nature,  and  especially 
the  human  nature  of  those  'drest  in  a  little  brief  author- 
ity.'" That  utterance  struck  me  then  as  cynical;  it  has 
struck  me  afterwards  as  wisdom.  I  think  I  may  safely 
say  that  the  chief  recorded  line  of  demarcation  to  be 
found  between  men  who  are  wise  and  men  who  are  other- 
wise, elected  to  these  two  Houses,  may  be  found  in  these 
sketches  in  the  Congressional  Directory.  One  man  tells 
about  his  ancestors,  whom  he  married,  the  names  of  his 
children,  boasts  of  his  achievements  and  his  "popularity 
with  the  people,"  foretells  what  a  figure  he  is  going  to 
be — the  prophecy  antedating  his  swearing  in — and  some- 
times takes  a  vicious  under-the-rib  dagger  stroke  from 
this  safe  vantage  ground  at  his  political  or  personal  ene- 
mies, and  thereby  "writes  himself  down  ass,"  as  Dog- 
berry proudly  insisted  that  he  should  be  written  down. 
This  sort  of  man  belongs  to  the  class  who  take  themselves 
seriously.  To  take  one's  work  seriously  is  one  thing;  to 
take  oneself  seriouslv  is  another.     The  former  rule  of 


[48] 


Address  of  Mr.  Williams,  of  Mississippi 

guidance  is  needful  and  helpful;  the  latter  is  confusing, 
self-destructive,  and  foolish — vanitas  vanitatum. 

A  wholesome  sense  of  humor  is  the  only  corrective  for 
those  of  the  latter  class.  This  wholesome  sense  of  humor 
in  its  turn  grows  out  of  the  conscious  viewing  of  oneself 
as  a  part  only  of  all  humanity  and  all  humanity  as  a 
part  only  of  God's  universe.  No  man  who  habitually 
thinks  that  thought  can  find  any  reason  why  "  the  soul 
of  mortal  should  be  proud."  Such  a  man  with  such  a 
thought  is  to  himself  only  a  part  of  his  allotted  work. 
I  have  clipped  from  the  Congressional  Directory  ex- 
Senator  Johnston's  short  sketch  of  himself.     Here  it  is: 

Joseph  Forney  Johnston,  Democrat,  of  Birmingham,  was  born 
in  North  Carolina  in  1843;  quit  school  to  join  the  Confederate 
Army  as  a  private  in  March,  1861;  served  during  the  war,  was 
wounded  four  times,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain;  practiced 
law  17  years;  was  a  banker  10  years;  was  elected  governor  of 
Alabama  in  1896  and  reelected  in  1898,  serving  4  years;  never 
sought  or  held  any  office  other  than  governor  and  Senator.  He 
was  unanimously  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  by  the  legis- 
lature August  6,  receiving  the  Republican  as  well  as  Democratic 
vote,  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  portion  of  the  term  of  Hon.  E.  W. 
Pettus,  deceased,  ending  March  3,  1909,  also  for  the  term  ending 
March  3,  1915. 

It  is  multum  in  parvo,  and  bears  the  impress  of  intel- 
lectual humility.  Not  a  word  about  the  Johnstons,  one 
of  the  best  and  most  useful  families  of  the  Old  North 
State;  not  a  word  about  the  Forneys,  several  of  whom 
have  been  so  prominent  that  their  names  became  house- 
hold words  in  the  State  of  Alabama,  to  which  State  Joe 
Johnston  moved.  Here  we  find  only  the  bare  facts  with- 
out boast  or  embellishment;  only  that  he  had  been  pri- 
vate, captain,  lawyer,  banker,  governor,  Senator — not  a 
word  about  bearing  himself  greatly  in  each  capacity. 
Only  once  is  there  the  appearance  even  of  claiming  any 

87633°— 15 4  [49] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

superiority  over  anyone,  and  that  consists  in  the  recital 
of  the  fact  that  as  a  Confederate  soldier  "  he  was 
wounded  four  times."  Others  may  have  been  wounded 
only  once  or  twice  or  not  at  all,  but  he  wants  his  friends 
to  remember  that  he  was  wounded  four  times.  His  scars 
alone  are  referred  to  as  a  badge  of  honor,  and  those  scars 
received  in  battling  for  a  cause  which  went  down,  not 
for  a  victorious  and  applauded  cause.  Several  things  are 
true,  which  he  does  not  tell  you;  he  was  promoted  from 
the  ranks  for  gallantry;  he  never  swerved  in  loyalty  to 
the  cause  he  espoused  nor  afterwards  in  loyalty  to  a  re- 
united country.  Most  men  boast  of  being  self-made;  not 
he,  with  better  cause  than  most. 

He  never  utters  a  word  of  regret  that  his  volunteering 
to  "live  and  die  for  Dixie"  left  him  half  educated;  nor 
a  word  about  his  self-teaching  and  the  wide  range  of 
attentive  reading  whereby  he  sought  to  make  up  for  his 
lack  of  schooling;  nor  a  word  to  the  effect  that  despite 
this  great  disadvantage,  thus  in  a  great  sense  overcome, 
he  became  and  for  years  continued  to  be  one  of  the  best 
and  most  completely  well-grounded  lawyers  in  the  State 
of  Alabama;  not  a  word  of  his  universally  recognized 
business  capacity  as  a  banker;  not  a  word  of  the  truth 
that  his  record  as  governor  was  so  honest  and  true  and 
faithful  to  platform,  party,  and  people,  and  so  intelligent 
that  golden  opinions  from  all,  friend  and  foe,  came  to  be 
his  part.  You  infer  it  only  from  the  recital  of  the  bare 
fact  that  he  was  "unanimously  elected  by  the  Alabama 
Legislature  to  the  Senate" — all  factions  of  the  Democracy 
and  all  the  Republicans,  as  well,  voting  for  him.  I  first 
knew  him  after  I  became  a  Member  of  this  body.  He  at- 
tracted the  love  of  all  who  became  intimate  with  him  by 
his  sterling  common  sense,  his  honesty  of  purpose,  and 
his  sly  and  acute  and  genial  sense  of  humor.  Even  those 
who  were  the  butt  of  it  enjoyed  it.     No  malice  entered 

[50] 


Address  of  Mr.  Williams,  of  Mississippi 

into  it.  He  possessed  honesty,  courage,  knowledge  of  self, 
and  love  of  truth.  These  four  are  the  cardinal  virtues 
of  man.  Their  opposites  are  the  only  sources  of  sin  and 
evil  in  this  world.  I  will  not  say  that  "none  knew  him 
but  to  love  him."  That  can  be  said  with  truth  of  no 
strong  man.  But  I  will  say  that  no  generous,  honest,  and 
brave  soul  ever  came  in  contact  with  his  without  recog- 
nizing a  kindred  spirit.  Not  for  us  to  say — God  has 
already  said:  "Requiescat  in  pace."  He  finds,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, his  best  monument  in  our  memories. 


[51] 


Address  of  Mr.  White,  of  Alabama 

Mr.  President:  I  prize  the  distinction  of  being  the  im- 
mediate successor  in  this  body  of  the  late  Senator  Joseph 
Forney  Johnston.  I  esteem  as  a  privilege  the  oppor- 
tunity of  participating  in  the  proceedings  by  which  we 
are  paying  tribute  to  his  memory. 

I  did  not  know  him  in  his  early  life,  nor  am  I  as  fa- 
miliar with  his  services  in  the  Senate  as  are  many  of  you 
who  were  associated  in  service  with  him.  I  shall  there- 
fore speak  very  briefly  of  those  periods  of  his  life,  leav- 
ing them  for  others  who  have  more  accurate  and  detailed 
information. 

I  did  know  him,  however,  through  many  years  of  his 
active  business  and  political  career.  I  knew  enough  of 
him,  I  think,  to  enable  me  to  form  a  fair  estimate  of  his 
character  and  qualities. 

He  was  a  North  Carolinian  by  birth,  an  Alabamian  by 
adoption.  The  former  State  nurtured  him  in  childhood 
and  equipped  him  for  the  struggles  and  duties  of  life; 
the  latter  opened  to  him  the  way  on  which  he  traveled 
to  business  and  political  success. 

With  the  equipment  furnished  by  the  one  and  the 
opportunity  presented  by  the  other,  he  entered  earnestly 
upon  life's  arduous  task.  Both  States  watched  his  up- 
ward progress  with  a  selfish,  lively  interest;  both  felt 
proud  of  his  achievements.  He  did  not  disappoint  either, 
but  reflected  credit  on  them  both. 

He  possessed  characteristics  which  gave  proof  of  his 
Scotch-Irish  descent.  He  had  the  humor  and  wit  of  the 
Irish,  the  deliberation,  persistence,  and  keen  insight  of 
the  Scotch.     In  social  life  he  showed  the  Irish  traits;  in 

[52] 


Address  of  Mr.  White,  of  Alabama 


his  business  and  political  undertakings  he  manifested  the 
Scotch  qualities.  These  inherited  gifts  performed  for 
him  useful  service;  they  were  ever  naturally  and  conven- 
iently at  hand  to  do  his  bidding. 

Senator  Johnston  was  endowed  with  a  strong  native 
intellect,  which  he  assiduously  cultivated  throughout  his 
life.  His  attainments  were  of  a  high  order.  While  his 
college  course  was  interrupted — in  fact,  cut  off — by  his 
participation  as  a  Confederate  soldier  in  the  Civil  War, 
he  nevertheless  by  his  own  efforts  acquired  a  liberal  edu- 
cation. His  range  of  information  was  extensive  and 
varied.  It  embraced  not  only  much  learning  that  was 
classic,  but  also  current  literature.  He  was  not  only  a 
student  of  books  but  of  men  and  their  concerns;  he  ob- 
served their  conduct,  saw  the  objects  of  their  pursuits, 
and  in  this  wise  divined  their  motives.  It  was  the  knowl- 
edge obtained  in  this  way  that  enabled  him  to  control  and 
lead  them.  His  look  was  prospective;  he  beheld  the 
panoramic  view  of  real  life.  He  mixed  and  mingled  with 
it.  Life  to  him  was  real,  and  he  was  real  life.  He  saw 
the  struggling  masses;  they  had  his  sympathy  and  help. 

He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession;  he  possessed  skill  and 
ability  as  such,  and  in  his  young  manhood  was  successful 
in  the  practice.  He  had,  however,  not  practiced  law  for 
a  number  of  years  immediately  prior  to  his  death.  He 
was  an  active,  successful  business  man;  he  followed  it 
with  zest;  but  his  specialty  was  the  banking  business. 
He  was  accomplished  in  this  line.  He  was  devoted  to  it; 
he  studied  its  principles;  he  understood  its  philosophy; 
he  actively  participated  in  it  for  many  years  as  president 
of  a  large  and  successful  banking  institution.  He  engaged 
in  other  important  industrial  and  business  enterprises,  in 
all  of  which  he  attained  success. 

His  decided  leaning,  however,  was  for  public  affairs. 
He  was  a  close  and  apt  student  of  them,  viewing  them 

[53] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

from  many  angles,  understanding  and  comprehending 
their  underlying  principles.  He  had  long  and  practical 
experience  in  dealing  with  them;  he  demonstrated  his 
capacity  for  handling  them. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  our  departed  friend  was 
his  great  will  power.  It  was  a  boyhood  trait;  it  con- 
tinued with  him  to  the  end;  it  seldom  bent;  it  never 
broke.  When  he  brought  it  into  play  on  a  course  of 
conduct  he  adhered  to  that  course  with  a  tenacity  of 
purpose  that  bordered  on  stubbornness.  He  never  called 
into  action  this  faculty  in  light  or  trivial  matters,  but  only 
when  some  principle  in  which  he  believed  was  involved 
or  when  some  preconceived  plan  was  questioned.  His 
plans  were  well  considered  before  they  were  adopted; 
when  adopted  they  were  intended  to  be  followed,  and 
were  followed  wherever  they  led.  When  they  were 
assailed  he  listened  with  patience  to  his  friends  who 
opposed  them,  gave  full  consideration  to  their  views,  and 
when  fully  convinced  that  they  were  right  he  changed 
his  course,  but  he  was  rarely  convinced  and  seldom 
changed. 

His  iron  will,  backed  by  his  natural  abilities  and  varied 
accomplishments,  made  him  an  attractive  figure  in  all 
the  spheres  of  life  in  which  he  moved,  a  dominant  force 
in  many  of  them. 

He  was  inclined  by  nature  to  be  a  partisan;  certainly  he 
had  pronounced  views  on  all  matters  of  importance.  His 
convictions  on  political  questions  especially  were  tena- 
ciously and  obstinately  maintained. 

In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat.  By  some  it  may  be 
thought  that  this  was  the  result  of  environment  and  train- 
ing. This  is  not  my  view.  I  think  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Democratic  Party  because  he  believed  in  its  catho- 
licity, in  its  ability  and  disposition  to  serve  all  the  people 
of  the  country — the  entire  country.    He  regarded  it  as  the 

[54] 


Address  of  Mr.  White,  of  Alabama 


foe  of  special  interests  of  the  favored  few.  He  was 
steeped  in  its  principles,  controlled  by  its  purposes, 
thrilled  by  its  achievements.  He  was  every  ready  to 
champion  its  cause,  to  give  battle  to  its  enemies;  he  met 
them  on  every  field.  He  fought  them,  as  was  his  custom, 
with  courage  and  persistence. 

In  political  conflicts  he  was  a  real  gladiator,  giving 
blow  for  blow  and  ofttimes  two  for  one.  He  smote  his 
enemy  hard  but  fair,  asked  no  quarter  and  gave  none, 
until  his  enemy  had  fallen. 

To  those  who  opposed  him  or  were  unfriendly  he  was 
reserved;  in  fact,  austere.  He  held  aloof  from  them  and 
kept  them  at  arms'  length.  To  his  friends  he  was  ap- 
proachable and  genial.  To  them  he  was  confiding,  ex- 
cept in  the  graver  and  more  serious  concerns  of  life;  in 
these  he  was  reserved  even  with  them. 

He  loved  his  friends;  he  trusted  them  and  enjoyed  their 
association.  He  added  much  to  their  comfort  and  hap- 
piness.   He  owed  them  much  for  their  loyal  support. 

Senator  Johnston  was  a  favorite  in  social  life;  he  en- 
joyed it  himself,  and  helped  to  make  others  enjoy  it. 
He  enlivened  it  with  his  wit,  brightened  it  with  his  humor, 
charmed  it  with  his  proverbial  good  nature. 

In  domestic  life  he  was  a  paragon.  Happily  married 
in  early  life,  he  was  blessed  with  a  continuation  of  the 
union  until  his  own  sad  death  severed  the  bond.  He 
appreciated  the  obligations  and  responsibilities  imposed 
by  the  wedded  vow;  he  observed  them  with  marked 
fidelity. 

He  was  fortunate  in  his  selection  of  a  wife;  she  made 
his  life  and  career  a  part  of  her  own.  In  early  life  with 
him  she  faced  its  conflicts  and  endured  its  hardships. 
Later  she  shared  in  his  disappointments  and  his  tri- 
umphs. In  some  of  his  political  disappointments  he  must 
have  felt  the  need  of  her  sympathy,  for  they  were  real 


[55] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

disappointments.  Once  he  had  the  senatorial  toga  almost 
within  his  grasp,  when  it  was  snatched  from  him.  Thrice 
he  was  near  the  governorship  of  his  State,  when  ashes 
took  the  place  of  his  hopes;  but  they  both  lived  to  see 
these  defeats  reversed  by  his  being  called  to  fill  the  very 
places  which  had  been  denied  him.  She  was  to  him  a 
loving,  faithful,  confiding  companion;  he,  in  turn,  cher- 
ished, loved,  and  honored  her.  Their  union  was  blessed 
with  a  number  of  children,  all  of  whom  were  boys,  as  I 
remember.  He  was  to  them  a  firm,  devoted,  generous 
father. 

This  well-ordered  and  happy  home  life,  filled  with 
comfort  and  pleasure,  unmixed  with  strife  and  pain, 
must  have  been  prized  by  him  more  than  all  of  life 
besides.    To  me  it  seems  his  greatest  achievement. 

Mr.  President,  the  subject  of  these  exercises  in  his  early 
life  adopted  high  moral  standards  by  which  he  was  to  be 
guided.  He  never  lowered  them  or  failed  to  adhere  to 
them;  his  conduct  and  mode  of  life  were  clean;  they  fur- 
nished a  fit  example  to  be  followed  by  all. 

He  had  deep,  sincere  religious  convictions;  they  con- 
trolled him  in  his  daily  deportment;  they  abided  with 
him  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  varied  life;  they  were  not 
expedients  with  him,  but  convictions  that  guided  and  con- 
trolled the  whole  course  of  his  life.  He  lived  fully  up  to 
his  religious  obligations;  he  never  brought  reproach  upon 
his  church  or  his  brethren.  The  light  of  his  religious  life 
was  never  hid,  never  obscured;  it  shone  alike  in  pros- 
perity and  adversity. 

Senator  Johnston's  political  career,  though  successful, 
was  a  stormy  one;  it  dates  back  to  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  peace  that  Gen.  Grant  declared  and  asked  to 
let  our  section  have  did  not  come,  in  fact,  though  the  war 
itself  had  closed.  The  soldiers  on  both  sides  returned  to 
their  homes,  those  of  the  North  to  be  welcomed  and  hon- 


[56] 


Address  of  Mr.  White,  of  Alabama 


ored  by  a  grateful  country.  Their  political  status  was  as 
good  as,  if  not  better  than,  it  was  when  they  enlisted. 
Their  section  had  lost  much  by  the  war,  but  had  gained 
more  than  it  lost. 

The  soldiers  of  the  South  returned  to  their  homes  with- 
out means  and  faced  a  country  made  desolate  by  the  rav- 
ages of  war.  This  they  expected  to  find  on  their  return. 
It  was  a  natural  consequence  flowing  to  the  section  that 
had  been  invaded  and  overcome  in  the  armed  conflict. 
It  took  heroes  to  meet  and  battle  with  this  situation;  but 
this  was  not  the  full  penalty  inflicted  upon  us  by  our 
conquerors — for  they  were,  indeed,  conquerors — as  the 
men  on  both  sides,  in  the  hate  and  passions  engendered 
by  war,  had  forgotten  the  brotherhood  that  bound  them 
together.  The  people  of  the  North  had  not  only  defeated 
us  in  war,  but  they  misunderstood  us;  they  doubted  our 
loyalty  to  the  institutions  of  our  fathers,  and  doubted  our 
good  faith  in  observing  the  promises  we  made  when  we 
renewed  our  allegiance  to  the  Union.  As  a  consequence, 
they  denied  our  right  to  participate  in  the  politics  of  our 
common  country,  to  share  in  its  responsibilities  and  its 
rewards;  they  supplanted  us  with  an  ignorant  and  ava- 
ricious horde,  whose  purpose  it  was  to  strip  us  not  only 
of  the  property  which  the  waste  and  exigencies  of  war 
had  left,  but  to  humiliate  us  beyond  endurance.  We  saw 
that  in  its  far-reaching  consequences  this  situation  was 
more  ruinous,  more  appalling  even,  than  that  which  had 
resulted  from  war;  we  saw  not  only  our  financial  ruin, 
but  saw  that  we  had  lost  our  liberties. 

We  reread  our  parole  and  saw  that  this  cruel,  unnec- 
essary penalty  was  not  written  in  the  pact  made  for  us 
between  Grant  and  Lee  at  Appomattox.  We  rebelled  and 
entered  upon  a  war  against  reconstruction.  It  was  in  this 
just  cause  that  Joseph  F.  Johnston  enlisted  as  a  political 
warrior  and  led  the  citizens  of  his  adopted  State  to  vic- 


[57] 


Memorial  Addresses  :  Senator  Johnston 

tory,  and  with  them  unfurled  the  banner  of  white  su- 
premacy, placed  it  beside  the  Stars  and  Stripes  on  the 
spire  of  our  capitol,  where  since  they  have  floated  to- 
gether in  peace  and  harmony,  evincing  our  loyalty  to  the 
Union,  our  devotion  to  race  integrity  and  race  supremacy. 

Mr.  President  and  Senators,  it  was  his  valiant  and  suc- 
cessful leadership  in  this  struggle  for  race  preservation 
that  endeared  your  late  associate  to  the  people  of  Ala- 
bama. As  a  recognition  of  his  services  and  sacrifices 
made  for  them  in  this  the  darkest  hour  of  their  country's 
history,  the  people  of  that  State  twice  elected  him  as  their 
governor  and  commissioned  him  to  sit  in  this  Chamber, 
where  he  served  until  the  final  summons  came  calling  him 
to  a  higher  service,  a  greater  reward. 

Mr.  President,  the  brightest  jewel  in  the  crown  of  the 
distinguished  dead  was  that  won  by  him  as  a  Confederate 
soldier.  When  a  mere  youth  his  country  claimed  of  him 
the  greatest  sacrifice  possible  for  man  to  make — it  asked 
him  to  lay  his  life  upon  her  altar.  She  obtained  from  him 
a  willing  and  prompt  response.  He  enlisted  as  a  private 
soldier;  by  gallant  conduct  and  faithful  service  he  rose  to 
the  rank  of  captain. 

Others  preceding  me  have  mentioned  many  of  his 
brave  deeds,  much  of  his  daring  conduct;  they  have 
pointed  to  the  hardships  and  privations  endured  by  him, 
the  long  and  arduous  marches  he  made.  They  have  per- 
formed this  gracious  service  much  better  than  I  can. 
Allow  ms  to  say,  however,  that  he  was  foremost  among 
that  heroic  band  that  followed  the  Stars  and  Bars  that 
floated  over  the  Army  of  Virginia.  He  was  noted  for 
the  cheerfulness  with  which  he  underwent  hardships, 
with  which  he  endured  privations,  for  his  disposition  to 
encourage  others,  his  soldierly  bearing,  his  manly  con- 
duct, for  his  courage  and  coolness  in  battle.  His  gal- 
lantry in  the  battle  at  Spottsylvania  Court  House  was  such 

[58] 


Address  of  Mr.  White,  of  Alabama 


as  to  attract  the  personal  attention  of  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee, 
who  observed  him  by  the  side  of  another  young  officer 
dash  forward  in  advance  of  their  command  to  capture  a 
flag  that  was  posted  on  the  breastworks  of  the  enemy. 
It  was  an  inspiring  scene  to  those  who  beheld  it.  They 
were  so  evenly  matched  in  the  race  that  it  could  not  be 
told  which  would  obtain  the  prize.  Just  as  they  were 
reaching  out  their  hands  to  seize  it  one  of  them  fell, 
stricken  to  the  ground,  wounded  by  a  bullet  from  the 
ranks  of  the  enemy.  The  one  who  had  fallen  was  none 
other  than  the  man  whose  memory  we  are  commemorat- 
ing. His  gallantry  was  so  conspicuous  on  this  occasion 
that  Gen.  Lee  made  special  mention  of  it  in  compliment- 
ing him  and  his  command  for  the  part  they  took  in  that 
battle. 

Throughout  the  sanguinary  struggle  between  the  States 
he  performed  a  notable  and  worthy  part.  While  the  life 
which  he  offered  to  his  country  was  not  required  at  her 
hands,  her  soil  was  sanctified  with  his  blood,  shed  on 
many  battle  fields.  He  wore  upon  his  body  numerous 
scars  which  he  received  for  his  country's  sake  and  in 
which  were  preserved  his  country's  honor. 

Mr.  President,  when  for  the  want  of  men  and  muni- 
tions it  became  impossible  for  the  South  to  longer  con- 
tinue the  unequal  conflict,  this  young  hero,  with  a  mere 
fragment  of  the  gallant  army  that  followed  Lee,  laid 
down  his  arms  at  his  country's  bidding  as  he  had  taken 
them  up  at  her  command. 

The  only  excuse  he  or  they  ever  gave  for  this  act  was 
that  Lee  had  ordered  it.  This  was  enough;  they  never 
doubted  his  wisdom;  they  never  questioned  his  authority. 
The  name  of  Joseph  F.  Johnston,  if  otherwise  undistin- 
guished, will  go  down  in  history  associated  with  the  name 
of  Robert  E.  Lee  and  the  dauntless  band  that  followed 
and  fought  with  him.    This  itself  is  sufficient  to  forever 

[59] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

endear  it  to  and  enshrine  it  in  the  memory  of  the  people 
he  loved  with  all  his  heart  and  served  with  all  of  his 
ability. 

Mr.  President,  I  offer  the  following  resolution: 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  agreed  to;  and  the 
Senate  (at  2  o'clock  and  10  minutes  p.  m.)  adjourned 
until  Monday,  January  11,  1915,  at  12  o'clock  meridian. 


[60] 


Proceedings  in  the  House  of  Representatives 

Friday,  August  8,  1913. 

A  message  from  the  Senate,  by  Mr.  Tulley,  one  of  its 
clerks,  announced  that  the  Senate  had  passed  the  follow- 
ing resolutions: 

In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 

August  8,  1913. 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  heard  with  deep  regret  and  pro- 
found sorrow  of  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  Forney  Johnston, 
late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Alabama. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  17  Senators  be  appointed  by  the 
Vice  President  to  take  order  for  superintending  the  funeral  of 
Mr.  Johnston. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  his  remains  be  re- 
moved from  his  late  home  in  this  city  to  Birmingham,  Ala.,  for 
burial,  in  charge  of  the  Sergeant  at  Arms,  attended  by  the  com- 
mittee, who  shall  have  full  power  to  carry  these  resolutions  into 
effect. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  these  proceedings  to 
the  House  of  Representatives. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased  Senator  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

In  compliance  with  the  foregoing  the  Vice  President  appointed 
as  said  committee  Mr.  Bankhead,  Mr.  Bacon,  Mr.  Overman,  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  Mr.  Hitchcock,  Mr.  Clarke  of  Arkansas,  Mr.  Varda- 
man,  Mr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Swanson,  Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina,  Mr. 
Thornton,  Mr.  Gallinger,  Mr.  Warren,  Mr.  Bristow,  Mr.  Catron,  Mr. 
Brady,  and  Mr.  Kenyon. 

Mr.  Underwood.  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  my  sad  duty  to 
announce  to  the  House  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  F. 
Johnston,  of  Alabama. 


[61] 


Memorial  Addresses  :  Senator  Johnston 

At  a  later  date  I  will  ask  the  House  to  set  apart  a  day 
to  pay  proper  respect  to  his  memory.  I  now  move  the 
adoption  of  the  following  resolution. 

The  Speaker.  The  Clerk  will  report  the  resolution. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

House  Resolution  225 

Resolved,  That  the  House  has  heard  with  profound  sorrow  and 
sincere  regret  of  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  F.  Johnston,  late 
a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Alabama. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  communicate  these  resolutions  to  the 
Senate  and  send  a  copy  thereof  to  the  family  of  the  deceased 
Senator. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  17  Members  of  the  House,  with 
such  Members  of  the  Senate  as  may  be  joined,  be  appointed  to 
attend  the  funeral. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Speaker  an- 
nounced as  the  committee  on  the  part  of  the  House  Mr. 
Underwood,  Mr.  Clayton,  Mr.  Taylor  of  Alabama,  Mr. 
Richardson,  Mr.  Hobson,  Mr.  Burnett,  Mr.  Heflin,  Mr. 
Dent,  Mr.  Blackmon,  Mr.  Abercrombie,  Mr.  Webb,  Mr. 
Howard,  Mr.  Austin,  Mr.  Towner,  Mr.  Norton,  Mr.  Kelley 
of  Michigan,  Mr.  Cullop,  Mr.  McKellar,  and  Mr.  Bell  of 
California. 

Mr.  Underwood.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  move  the  adoption  of 
the  following  resolution. 

The  Speaker.  The  Clerk  will  report  the  resolution. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased  Senator  the  House  do  now  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to;  accordingly  (at  12  o'clock 
and  53  minutes  p.  m.)  the  House,  in  accordance  with  the 
order  heretofore  adopted,  adjourned  until  Tuesday, 
August  12,  1913,  at  12  o'clock  noon. 


[62] 


Proceedings  in  the  House 


Monday,  January  4,  1915. 

Mr.  Underwood.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  ask  unanimous  con- 
sent for  the  present  consideration  of  the  order  which  I 
send  to  the  Clerk's  desk. 

The  Speaker.  The  gentleman  asks  unanimous  consent 
for  the  present  consideration  of  a  resolution,  which  the 
Clerk  will  report. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

House  resolution  693 

Resolved,  That  Sunday,  January  31,  1915,  be  set  apart  for  serv- 
ices upon  the  life,  character,  and  public  services  of  Hon.  Joseph 
F.  Johnston,  late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  of 
the  Hon.  William  Richardson,  late  a  Representative  from  the 
State  of  Alabama. 

The  Speaker.  Is  there  objection? 

There  was  no  objection. 

The  resolution  was  agreed  to. 

Saturday,  January  9,  1915. 
The  committee  informally  rose;  and  Mr.  Ferris  having 
taken  the  chair  as  Speaker  pro  tempore,  a  message  from 
the  Senate,  by  Mr.  Tulley,  one  of  its  clerks,  announced 
that  the  Senate  had  passed  the  following  resolution: 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  heard  with  profound  sorrow  of 
the  death  of  the  Hon.  Joseph  F.  Johnston,  late  a  Senator  from  the 
State  of  Alabama. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  de- 
ceased the  business  of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended  to  enable  his 
associates  to  pay  proper  tribute  to  his  high  character  and  distin- 
guished public  services. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  communicate  a  copy  of  these  reso- 
lutions to  the  House  of  Representatives  and  transmit  a  copy 
thereof  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

[63] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

Sunday,  January  31,  1915. 

The  House  met  at  12  o'clock  noon  and  was  called  to 
order  by  Mr.  Underwood,  Speaker  pro  tempore. 

The  Chaplain,  Rev.  Henry  N.  Couden,  D.  D.,  offered 
the  following  prayer : 

Infinite  and  eternal  energy,  our  God  and  our  Father, 
out  of  whose  heart  came  life  and  all  its  possibilities,  the 
wisdom  that  illumines,  the  faith  that  sustains,  the  hope 
that  cheers,  the  love  which  binds  us  together  into  friend- 
ship and  families,  we  are  here  to-day  because  of  these 
indissoluble  ties  in  memory  of  two  souls  who  have 
answered  the  summons  and  passed  into  the  great  beyond 
from  whence  no  traveler  returns.  To  recall  their  deeds, 
sing  their  praises,  is  to  put  an  estimate  on  their  virtues. 
We  thank  Thee  that  the  good  in  man  lives  to  inspire 
others  to  the  nobler  virtues.  These  men  were  chosen 
servants  of  the  people  because  in  them  were  ability,  in- 
tegrity, honesty,  zeal,  high  ideals,  and  lofty  purposes, 
and  though  they  have  passed  on  they  live  in  the  hearts 
of  their  countrymen.  May  those  who  knew  and  loved 
them  best  look  forward  to  a  reunion  in  one  of  the 
Father's  many  mansions  where  the  ties  of  friendship  and 
love  will  never  again  be  severed.  And  songs  of  praises 
we  will  ever  give  to  Thee  in  the  name  of  Him  who  taught 
us  faith,  hope,  love.    Amen. 

The  Speaker  pro  tempore.  The  Clerk  will  read  a  letter 
from  the  Speaker. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

January  29,  1915. 
Hon.  South  Trimble, 

Clerk  of  the  House: 
I  hereby  designate  Hon.  Oscar  "W.  Underwood,  of  Alabama,  as 
Speaker  pro  tempore  to  preside  on  Sunday,  January  31,  1915. 

Your  friend, 

Champ  Clark. 


[64] 


Proceedings  in  the  House 


The  Speaker  pro  tempore.  Without  objection,  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Journal  of  yesterday  will  be  postponed 
until  to-morrow.  [After  a  pause.]  The  Chair  hears  none. 
The  Clerk  will  read  the  special  order. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Underwood,  by  unanimous  consent, 
Ordered,  That  Sunday,  January  31,  1915,  be  set  apart  for  serv- 
ices upon  the  lives,  character,  and  public  services  of  Hon.  Joseph 
F.  Johnston,  late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  Hon. 
William  Richardson,  late  a  Representative  from  the  State  of 
Alabama. 

Mr.  Blackmon  assumed  the  chair  as  Speaker  pro 
tempore. 

Mr.  Underwood.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  offer  the  resolutions 
which  I  send  to  the  Clerk's  desk. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  business  of  the  House  be  now  suspended  that 
an  opportunity  may  be  given  for  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the 
Hon.  Joseph  F.  Johnston,  late  a  Member  of  the  United  States 
Senate  from  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  to  the  memory  of  the  Hon. 
William  Richardson,  late  a  Member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives from  the  State  of  Alabama. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased  and  in  recognition  of  their  eminent  abilities  as  dis- 
tinguished public  servants  the  House  at  the  conclusion  of  these 
memorial  proceedings  shall  stand  adjourned. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  communicate  these  resolutions  to  the 
Senate. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  be  instructed  to  send  a  copy  of  these 
resolutions  to  the  families  of  the  deceased. 

Mr.  Underwood.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  move  the  adoption  of 
the  resolutions. 

The  question  was  taken,  and  the  resolutions  were 
unanimously  agreed  to. 


87633°— 15 5  [65] 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESSES. 


Address  of  Mr.  Underwood,  of  Alabama 

Mr.  Speaker  :  We  meet  to-day  to  do  honor  to  the  mem- 
ory of  comrades  who  have  fallen  on  the  battle  field  of 
life's  great  struggle.  We  mourn  their  loss;  we  cherish 
their  memory;  we  love  the  recollection  of  their  friend- 
ship; and  we  honor  the  high  character,  the  sterling  cour- 
age, and  the  purity  of  purpose  that  were  so  eminently 
portrayed  in  the  lives  of  our  departed  colleagues. 

I  could  ask  no  higher  privilege  and  find  no  sweeter  duty 
than  the  right  to  place  on  the  records  of  this  House  my 
remembrances  of  Alabama's  great  son,  the  late  Senator 
Joseph  Forney  Johnston. 

He  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  the  year  1843.  When 
only  a  schoolboy  he  joined  the  Confederate  Army  in 
March,  1861,  served  during  the  entire  war,  was  four  times 
wounded  in  battle,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain. 

At  the  close  of  the  War  between  the  States  he  made  his 
home  in  Alabama,  and  for  17  years  practiced  law  in 
Selma,  Ala.,  with  marked  ability  and  success,  retiring 
from  the  active  practice  to  engage  in  banking  in  Birming- 
ham for  10  years,  when  he  was  elected  governor  of  Ala- 
bama, serving  the  people  for  4  years  with  exceptional 
ability. 

He  was  unanimously  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate 
by  the  Legislature  of  Alabama  to  serve  out  the  unexpired 
term  of  the  Hon.  Edmund  W.  Pettus,  ending  March  3, 
1909,  and  also  for  the  full  term  ending  March  3,  1915. 
He  died  in  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  8th  day  of 
August,  1913,  at  his  post  of  duty. 

[67] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

From  the  time  he  first  made  his  home  in  Alabama  until 
his  death  Senator  Johnston  actively  participated  in  pub- 
lic affairs.  He  was  there  during  what  is  called  the  "re- 
construction period"  and  was  a  leader  in  the  movement 
by  her  citizens  to  drive  from  the  conduct  of  her  affairs  the 
carpetbaggers  and  their  ignorant  coadjutors,  to  end  dis- 
cord and  corruption,  and  to  restore  to  the  intelligent  and 
the  virtuous  the  State  government.  That  being  secured, 
Alabama  began  a  period  of  advancement  and  develop- 
ment which  the  world  is  coming  to  appreciate.  If  a  story 
of  Senator  Johnston's  life  were  written  from  1874  until 
the  date  of  his  death  it  would  tell  of  nearly  every  impor- 
tant movement  connected  with  the  history  of  the  State 
itself,  so  closely  was  he  identified  with  its  political,  ma- 
terial, and  educational  development  and  policies.  He 
was  active  in  promoting  its  development.  He  was  inter- 
ested in  whatever  tended  to  the  advancement  of  Alabama 
and  her  people.  He  was  willing  "to  spend  and  be  spent" 
in  her  interest,  and  his  willingness  to  serve  gave  occasion 
for  many  drafts  upon  his  time  and  energies  which  he 
always  tried  to  honor.  As  a  consequence  he  drew  to  him 
a  very  large  number  of  loyal  friends  and  supporters  in 
all  parts  of  the  State  who  implicitly  followed  his  lead 
upon  all  questions.  His  influence  was  accordingly  far- 
reaching,  and,  be  it  said  to  his  credit,  his  influence  was 
for  good. 

Senator  Johnston  was  a  man  of  positive  convictions 
and  firm  purpose.  When  he  had  decided  upon  his  course 
his  perseverance  and  persistence  in  following  it  account 
for  much  of  his  success.  His  political  life  illustrates 
these  qualities.  He  was  defeated  for  the  gubernatorial 
nomination  in  his  own  party  and  then  was  twice  elected 
by  it  as  governor.  He  was  likewise  defeated  for  Senator 
and  then  was  twice  elected  as  Senator,  once  to  fill  out 
an  unexpired  term  and  then  for  a  full  term.     In  these 

[68] 


Address  of  Mr.  Underwood,  of  Alabama 

battles  he  naturally  gave  and  received  hard  blows,  but 
he  lived  to  see  the  day  when  many  strong  men  who  had 
been  pronounced  in  their  opposition  to  some  of  his  views 
became  his  most  active  supporters,  for  they  realized 
that  whatever  view  he  urged,  it  was  an  honest  view; 
that  whatever  purpose  he  had,  it  was  a  manly  and  up- 
right one;  and  whatever  conviction  he  entertained,  he 
had  the  courage  to  support  it.  When  he  found  the  way 
of  duty,  he  never  flinched  in  following  it.  And  it  is  but 
natural  that  such  a  man  tied  men  to  him. 

Behind  a  reserved  and  apparently  cold  exterior  Senator 
Johnston  had  a  heart  that  was  very  tender.  He  was  re- 
sponsive to  the  calls  of  charity  and,  without  ostentation, 
he  aided  many  needy  ones.  His  love  for  the  old  Con- 
federate veterans  who  were  in  need  amounted  almost  to 
a  passion.  He  cherished  the  memory  of  the  days  when 
as  a  mere  boy  he  fought  for  the  South;  and,  assuming 
that  all  honorable  men  would  give  him  credit  for  honesty 
of  conviction,  he  had  no  unkind  words  for  those  whom 
he  opposed  in  war,  and  met  all  men  upon  the  dead  level 
of  personal  integrity  and  manhood.  But  the  old  Con- 
federate soldiers  never  appealed  to  him  in  vain.  When 
he  became  governor  they  did  not  always  address  him 
by  that  title,  and  when  he  became  Senator  they  did  not 
call  him  Senator.  They  preferred,  and  he  liked  to  be 
called  by  them,  "  Captain." 

Senator  Johnston's  life  was  a  successful  one.  His  few 
political  disappointments  seemed  but  to  nerve  him  for 
another  combat,  and  he  won.  His  character  and  life  are 
well  worth  study  by  the  young  men  of  his  adopted 
State,  and  because  of  the  elements  of  force  to  be  found 
in  it  we  can  see  the  reason  he  succeeded.  But  not  alone 
in  his  work  as  lawyer,  banker,  business  man,  and  states- 
man do  we  find  the  inspiration  of  his  activities,  for  back 
of  these,  as  back  of  all  strong  American  life  and  hope,  is 

[69] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

the  home.  And  it  was  in  his  beautiful  home  life  that 
Senator  Johnston  shone  at  his  best.  There  he  was  the 
devoted  husband  and  affectionate  father,  and  there  he 
received  the  homage  that  kindness  and  sympathy  and 
love  elicit,  and  there  he  placed  upon  his  children  "the 
imperishable  knighthood"  of  the  Fifth  Commandment. 

Senator  Johnston  possessed  the  elements  of  real  great- 
ness. His  character  was  strong;  his  standards  lofty.  He 
worked  hard  and  perseveringly.  He  died  at  his  post  of 
duty,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  it  had  been  given  him 
to  choose  the  place  of  his  death  the  choice  would  have 
been  to  die  while  in  the  discharge  of  a  duty.  He  left  us 
the  good  example  of  his  life,  and  to  his  family  he  left  the 
heritage  of  a  good  name. 

When  Earth's  last  picture  is  painted, 

And  the  tubes  are  twisted  and  dried, 
When  the  oldest  colors  have  faded, 

And  the  youngest  critic  has  died, 
We  shall  rest,  and,  faith,  we  shall  need  it — 

Lie  down  for  an  aeon  or  two; 
Till  the  Master  of  all  good  workmen 

Shall  set  us  to  work  anew. 

And  only  the  Master  shall  praise  us, 

And  only  the  Master  shall  blame; 
And  no  one  shall  work  for  money, 

And  no  one  shall  work  for  fame; 
But  each  for  the  joy  of  the  working, 

And  each  in  his  separate  star 
Shall  draw  the  Thing  as  he  sees  it 

For  the  God  of  Things  as  They  Are! 


[70] 


Address  of  Mr.  Webb,  of  North  Carolina 

Mr.  Speaker:  It  is  but  proper  that  we  pause  for  a  few 
moments  and  turn  aside  from  the  duties  of  the  hour  to 
say  a  word  of  those  who  have  been  our  coworkers  but 
who  have  been  called  to  their  reward. 

Joseph  Forney  Johnston  was  unanimously  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate  by  the  Legislature  of  Alabama 
August  6,  1907,  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Hon. 
E.  W.  Pettus,  deceased,  ending  March  3,  1909.  He  was 
then  reelected  for  the  full  term  expiring  March  3,  1915. 
While  still  in  the  service  of  his  country  as  Senator  from 
Alabama,  on  August  8,  1913,  he  died  at  his  post  of  duty 
in  the  city  of  Washington. 

I  and  the  people  whom  I  represent  are  proud  to  claim 
a  peculiar  interest  in  his  record  and  achievements. 

On  March  23,  1843,  he  was  born  at  Mount  Welcome,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Catawba  River,  in  Lincoln  County,  N.  C, 
which  is  in  the  district  I  have  the  honor  to  represent. 
His  early  youth  was  spent  at  Mount  Welcome  on  his 
father's  extensive  estate,  consisting  of  about  2,500  acres 
of  land,  on  which  were  operated  iron  forges,  flour  and 
saw  mills,  in  addition  to  the  farm.  He  first  attended  a 
school  in  the  neighborhood  which  was  maintained  and 
supported  by  the  community  composed  of  his  father, 
Dr.  William  Johnston,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Hall  Morrison, 
Dr.  Hunter,  the  Cahills,  and  the  Rosells.  From  there 
he  went  to  Catawba  College,  at  Newton,  N.  C,  which 
was  under  the  management  of  Maj.  Finger,  afterwards 
superintendent  of  public  instruction  in  North  Carolina. 
He  then  spent  some  time  at  the  Charlotte  Military  Insti- 
tute under  Gen.  D.  H.  Hill,  and  later,  about  1859,  he  went 
to  Alabama  and  entered  the  Wetumpka  Military  School. 

[71] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

His  father's  home  was  a  center  of  culture,  refinement, 
and  genial  hospitality.  Its  environments  were  whole- 
some and  pleasant,  such  as  should  bring  out  the  manly 
qualities  of  the  boy.  Those  acquainted  with  him  in  his 
early  youth  tell  us  that  young  Johnston  was  always  a 
sturdy,  manly  boy  from  his  earliest  days  and  possessed 
much  dry  humor.  As  illustrating  this  they  relate  of  him 
that  when  he  was  only  about  6  years  old  the  ball  of  bees- 
wax used  for  the  thread  in  sewing  was  missing.  Some 
one  said,  "  I  think  Josie  has  it."  He  stood  before  them, 
looked  into  their  faces,  and  said,  "  Search  me."  They  did 
and  found  the  missing  beeswax. 

Although  he  left  North  Carolina  at  an  early  age  and  set- 
tled in  Alabama,  where  he  spent  the  active  years  of  his 
life,  he  never  lost  interest  in  his  native  State.  He  could 
not  outlive  the  feeling  that  the  old  Johnston  homestead  in 
Lincoln  County,  where  his  ancestors  lie  buried,  was  his 
home  and  the  people  around  it  his  neighbors  and  friends. 
His  friends  in  North  Carolina  always  felt  that  should  an 
occasion  arise  where  they  needed  his  help  they  had  in 
him  a  true  friend  and  advocate. 

He  was  truly  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  South.  He  held 
this  rank  because  of  his  gentle  birth,  as  well  as  his  manly 
traits  of  character.  In  his  veins  mingled  the  blood  of  the 
Scotch-Irish,  the  Huguenot,  and  the  Swiss  people,  blended 
to  form  a  character  possessed  of  modesty  and  gentleness, 
yet  grand  in  heroic  suffering  and  chivalric  daring. 

His  paternal  grandfather,  Col.  James  Johnston,  was  an 
active  patriot  throughout  the  American  Revolution,  and 
one  of  the  immortal  heroes  of  the  battle  of  Kings 
Mountain. 

His  maternal  grandfather,  Gen.  Peter  Forney,  was  like- 
wise a  patriot  and  gallant  soldier  in  the  cause  of  Ameri- 
can freedom.     His  father  was  a  French  Huguenot  and 


[72] 


Address  of  Mr.  Webb,  of  North  Carolina 

his  mother  a  Swiss.  Gen.  Forney  served  in  both  branches 
of  his  State  legislature,  represented  his  district  in  the 
Thirtieth  Congress,  and  was  a  presidential  elector  on  the 
Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  and  Jackson  tickets. 

With  such  an  ancestry  it  is  not  strange  that  when  the 
South  took  up  arms  in  behalf  of  her  independence  he 
and  his  four  brothers,  Gen.  Robert  D.,  William  H.,  Capt. 
James  F.,  and  Bartlett  S.  Johnston,  entered  the  Con- 
federate service  and  were  loyal  and  gallant  soldiers. 

When  the  war  commenced  Senator  Johnston  was  at- 
tending high  school  at  Talladega,  Ala.  He  enlisted  at 
the  age  of  18  in  Company  I,  Eighteenth  Alabama  Regi- 
ment, April  21,  1861,  as  a  private,  and  was  mustered 
into  service  at  Auburn  in  that  State.  This  company  was 
under  the  command  of  Capt.  Mickle  and  was  known  as 
the  Shelby  Rifles.  In  the  same  year  he  was  made  orderly 
sergeant.  He  was  in  the  Battle  of  Shiloh,  and  in  the  rear- 
guard fight  at  Iuka,  where  he  was  promoted  to  second 
lieutenant  by  Gen.  Bragg.  He  had  his  right  arm  broken 
while  in  the  Battle  of  Chickamauga.  It  is  related  of  him 
that  in  that  battle,  while  tying  down  under  fire,  a  canteen 
some  yards  in  front  of  him  was  repeatedly  hit  by  bullets. 
He  crawled  out  and,  throwing  it  away,  said,  "  That  thing 
makes  me  nervous."  He  was  with  Gen.  Bragg  in  his 
march  to  Kentucky  and  in  the  Battle  of  Perryville.  He 
was  transferred  to  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  as 
aid-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Robert  D.  Johnston,  his 
brother,  and  later  appointed  captain  of  Company  A, 
Twelfth  North  Carolina  Regiment. 

A  shell  exploded  over  his  head  at  the  Battle  of  Spott- 
sylvania,  causing  him  to  bleed  freely  from  the  eyes,  ears, 
nose,  and  mouth,  and  disabling  him  for  duty  for  some 
time.  He  was  with  Gen.  Early  in  all  the  fighting  in  the 
valley  of  Virginia  until  again  wounded  by  a  shell  in  the 
right  ribs.     He  fell  from  his  horse  and  was  left  on  the 

[73] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

field.  Late  in  the  night  he  regained  consciousness  and 
had  the  presence  of  mind  to  work  the  piece  of  shell  out 
of  his  side  and  stop  the  flow  of  blood  by  the  use  of  his 
handkerchief. 

As  evidence  of  his  cool  daring  it  is  related  that  while 
he  was  in  the  fight  in  the  Wilderness  a  shell  plowed  a 
furrow  in  front  of  where  he  was  lying  and  he  imme- 
diately crawled  into  the  furrow.  A  soldier  called  to  him 
to  come  back,  but  he  calmly  replied,  "  They  can't  hit  here 
again." 

He  was  again  wounded  by  a  shell,  this  time  in  the  left 
side,  at  Hares  Hall,  on  March  25,  1865.  In  this  fight  Gen. 
Robert  D.  Johnston  fell  and  sprained  his  ankle;  Capt. 
Nicholson  was  killed;  and  Capt.  Hayne  Davis,  of  Gen. 
Johnston's  staff,  lost  his  right  arm. 

After  the  war  was  over  he  and  his  companion,  Maj. 
Burton,  went  to  Alabama  to  bravely  battle  against  the 
adverse  conditions  and  to  give  their  best  efforts  to  the 
rebuilding  of  the  South.  When  Senator  Johnston 
started  out  for  Alabama  on  his  new  task  he  carried  with 
him  a  mule  and  an  ambulance  which  he  had  brought 
back  from  the  war.  His  less  fortunate  friend  had  only 
a  mule.  Senator  Johnston  stopped  in  Jacksonville  and 
studied  law  under  his  first  cousin,  Gen.  H.  Forney.  He 
sold  the  ambulance  and  mule,  and  from  them  obtained 
sufficient  funds  to  live  on  until  he  was  licensed  to  practice 
law.  He  then  went  to  Selma,  Ala.,  and  worked  in  the 
law  offices  of  Pettus  &  Harolson.  After  practicing  with 
them  for  a  short  time  he  formed  a  partnership  with  R.  M. 
Nelson.  Soon  after  this  he  was  elected  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  executive  committee  for  the  State,  and  con- 
ducted the  reconstruction  campaign  in  which  Alabama 
was  redeemed. 

He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Chicago  convention  that 
nominated  Mr.  Cleveland  for  President.     He  was,  how- 

[74] 


Address  of  Mr.  Webb,  of  North  Carolina 

ever,  a  loyal  supporter  of  Mr.  Bayard  to  the  finish.  There 
were  with  him  in  this  delegation  seven  of  his  cousins,  who 
were  also  for  Mr.  Bayard.  When  the  convention  contest 
was  on  he  was  approached  and  virtually  promised  politi- 
cal control  in  Alabama  if  he  would  lead  the  delegation 
over  to  Mr.  Cleveland,  but  his  reply  was  that  "I  am  for 
Bayard  all  the  time." 

He  continued  to  live  and  practice  law  in  Selma  for 
about  18  years,  after  which  time  he  moved  to  Birmingham 
and  accepted  the  presidency  of  the  Alabama  National 
Bank.  In  1896  and  again  in  1898  he  was  elected  governor 
of  the  State  of  Alabama,  serving  four  years. 

In  presenting  this  brief  review  of  the  life  and  achieve- 
ments of  Senator  Johnston,  I  desire  to  acknowledge  my 
indebtedness  to  my  friends,  Mr.  A.  Nixon,  clerk  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  Lincoln  County,  N.  C,  and  Bartlett  S. 
Johnston,  a  brother  of  the  Senator,  for  many  of  the  facts 
and  incidents  which  I  have  related. 

I  have  not  spoken  of  his  record  while  a  Member  of  the 
United  States  Senate.  This  is  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of 
his  associates,  who  have  already  spoken  of  it,  and  these 
utterances  have  found  place  in  the  permanent  records  of 
Congress. 

Mr.  Speaker,  we  may  well  repeat  of  this  gallant,  splen- 
did gentleman  the  words  Mark  Antony  used,  in  Shake- 
speare's "Julius  Caesar,"  after  he  had  routed  Brutus  in 
battle.  When  Brutus,  despondent,  commanded  his  faith- 
ful servant  Strato  to  kill  him  with  his  own  sword,  Mark 
Antony,  coming  upon  him  sitting  against  a  tree,  dead, 
halted  his  triumphant  army  and,  amid  perfect  silence, 
pointing  to  the  dead  Brutus,  said:  "His  life  was  gentle, 
and  the  elements  so  mixed  in  him  that  nature  might  stand 
up  and  say  to  all  the  world,  'This  was  a  man.' " 


[75] 


Address  of  Mr.  Taylor,  of  Alabama 

Mr.  Speaker  :  Joseph  Forney  Johnston  was  a  rare  man, 
adaptable,  capable,  successful. 

His  success  in  life  came  to  him  naturally  through  a  long 
line  of  ancestors  and  associations,  and  he  grew  as  a 
sturdy  oak  grows  in  the  forest,  because  he  had  it  in  him 
and  nothing  could  hinder  or  check  his  rising  above  his 
fellows,  a  leader  because  he  was  born  that  way. 

Of  his  early  boyhood  I  have  heard  little.  He  had 
early  and  good  schooling,  the  best  to  be  had  in  his  day. 
He  was  educated  beyond  the  school  and  had  barely 
entered  college  life  when  war  came,  and  the  boy  of  18 
became  a  soldier  and  a  good  one.  He  could  not  help  it. 
It  was  his  nature  to  be  thorough,  and  he  acted  up  to  his 
nature.  Four  wounds  and  many  battles  proved  his  cour- 
age and  his  capacity,  and  he  left  the  service  at  the  close 
of  the  war  a  captain,  still  little  more  than  a  boy  in  years. 
He  studied  law  as  he  acted  the  soldier,  and  he  studied  to 
win,  and  won.  He  became  a  good  lawyer,  a  business 
lawyer,  a  man  of  coolness,  sagacity,  and  judgment.  He 
was  not  a  great  lawyer,  but  ranked  high  in  his  profession. 
The  life  of  an  attorney  was  too  slow  for  him.  He  gave 
it  up  and  became  a  banker,  and  as  a  banker  and  business 
man  of  affairs  he  won  his  highest  recognition  in  private 
life. 

Joe  Johnston,  as  he  was  familiarly  known  throughout 
the  State  of  Alabama  and  almost  throughout  the  South, 
was  gifted  with  social  virtues  and  accomplishments.  He 
could  and  did  hold  his  own  in  every  gathering  together 
of  the  people  in  his  community.  He  was  courteous,, 
gentle,  attractive  in  his  home  life  and  among  his  friends 

[76] 


Address  of  Mr.  Taylor,  of  Alabama 


and  acquaintances.  He  was  a  charming  host,  a  fascinat- 
ing guest,  ever  welcome,  and  ever  ready  with  wit  and 
repartee  to  make  an  occasion  better  for  his  presence. 

He  was  ambitious,  as  is  every  man  of  courage,  intelli- 
gence, and  energy.  Naturally  he  entered  political  life, 
but  not  till  success  in  business  enabled  him  to  do  so  with- 
out injustice  to  his  family. 

For  many  years  his  part  in  public  life  was  active  and 
effective  work  for  his  party  in  the  State  of  his  adoption, 
for  he  was  born  a  North  Carolinian  and  was  proud  of  it. 
In  the  dark  days  of  the  South,  through  reconstruction 
and  its  horrors,  no  man  stood  more  bravely  at  his  post 
or  did  more  unselfish  and  effective  service  than  Senator 
Johnston.  He  was  for  a  long  time  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  executive  committee  of  the  State,  and  he  did 
his  work  well  and  faithfully. 

When  he  presented  himself  for  office  he  did  not  suc- 
ceed at  once.  He  was  elected  governor  after  he  had 
failed  three  times  to  get  the  nomination. 

But  Capt.  Johnston  learned  the  battle  of  life  under 
leaders  who  knew  when  to  retreat  and  understood  but 
would  not  accept  defeat.  So  he  tried  again  and  suc- 
ceeded. He  was  twice  governor  of  the  State.  His  two 
administrations  were  stormy  and  he  made  many  enemies 
and  bitter  ones,  but  the  weight  of  opinion  was  and  is 
that  he  was  a  good  governor,  an  exceptionally  good  one, 
and  added  much  to  the  history  of  Alabama  that  will  be 
matter  of  pride  to  our  people  while  time  lasts. 

I  am  persuaded  to  believe  Gov.  Johnston  had  for  years 
the  largest  personal  following  of  any  public  man  in 
Alabama  in  his  day. 

He  made  friends  easily  and  he  held  them,  for  he  was 
loyal  to  his  friends  and  fearless  in  the  expression  of  his 
loyalty  when  necessity  arose  to  claim  evidence  of  it.  It 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Joe  Johnston  ended  his 


[77] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

career  as  man,  citizen,  and  public  officer  as  a  twice 
elected  Member  of  the  United  States  Senate. 

Senator  Johnston  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  His  attendance  and  attention  to  duty  were  the 
same  as  in  business  life — regular.  He  was  a  busy  and  a 
useful  member,  as  prompt  and  punctual  at  services, 
vestry  meetings,  at  general  conventions  and  convocations, 
and  as  faithful  as  when  he  was  a  soldier  in  the  ranks 
and  under  military  discipline. 

Again  it  was  simply  the  nature  of  the  man. 

Few  men  have  done  so  well  with  their  lives  as  this 
distinguished  gentleman,  and  fewer  still  have  done  better. 
A  worthy  life  well  spent  and  approved  by  his  country- 
men, who  loved  him  while  living  and  will  honor  his 
memory  forever. 

In  camp  and  court,  in  banking  house,  and  at  church  his 
voice  is  hushed.  He  can  not  answer,  but  his  record 
answers  for  him — "  Present  and  accounted  for." 


[78] 


Address  of  Mr.  Burnett,  of  Alabama 

Mr.  Speaker:  A  little  less  than  seven  years  ago  we  as- 
sembled in  this  Hall  to  pay  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
Alabama's  two  distinguished  Senators,  Morgan  and 
Pettus.  They  were  men  whose  names  were  interlinked 
with  the  history  of  Alabama  from  its  early  days. 

Almost  their  entire  lives  were  devoted  to  their  State, 
and  they  died  holding  the  highest  commissions  of  public 
trust  that  their  people  could  place  in  their  devoted  hands. 

When  honor  called  them  they  unsheathed  their  swords 
for  Alabama,  and  not  until  the  Stars  and  Bars  were  furled 
forever  did  they  quit  the  field  of  courageous  duty.  When 
they  returned  with  heavy  hearts  to  devastated  homes  and 
saddened  people  they  set  about  to  help  inspire  the  hearts 
and  restore  the  wrecked  and  ruined  fortunes  of  sorrow- 
ing men  and  women. 

To-day  we  meet  again  to  pay  tribute  to  the  memories 
of  two  other  Alabama  heroes  who  "  died  in  the  harness  " 
while  laboring  for  the  people  who  had  honored  them. 
Senator  Joseph  F.  Johnston  and  Representative  William 
Richardson,  like  Senators  Morgan  and  Pettus,  dedicated 
their  long  and  useful  lives  to  Alabama  and  her  people. 
They  were  both  my  friends,  and  to  the  memory  of  both 
I  ask  to  pay  my  humble  tribute  of  respect. 

Senator  Johnston  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina — 
that  grand  old  State  that  has  given  to  Alabama  many  of 
the  bravest  and  noblest  of  her  sons.  Through  his  veins 
flowed  the  blood  of  heroes  of  '76.  He  was  a  grandson 
of  Col.  James  Johnston,  of  the  Revolutionary  Army,  and 
the  great-grandson  of  Gilbert  Johnston,  who  on  Cullo- 
den's  field  shed  his  blood  in  the  cause  of  the  Pretender. 


[79] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

When  a  boy  at  school  Senator  Johnston  heard  the 
bugle  call  to  arms,  and  from  private  to  captain  this  brave 
boy  in  gray  followed  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  "  storm- 
cradled  nation  "  till  its  sun  went  down  forever  amid  the 
gloom  of  Appomattox.  Four  times  wounded,  this  in- 
trepid young  Confederate  rose  each  time  from  the  bed  of 
suffering  to  unsheath  his  sword  in  behalf  of  a  stainless 
flag  and  an  honored  cause. 

Just  before  the  war  he  came  to  Alabama  and  cast  his 
lot  with  her  people,  in  sunshine  and  shadow,  till  God 
called  him,  and  then  with  devoted  hands  and  solemn 
steps  we  laid  him  to  rest  amid  her  magnolias  and  her 
pines. 

I  first  knew  Senator  Johnston  when,  as  one  of  Ala- 
bama's chosen  chiefs,  he  was  called  to  lead  her  struggling 
people  against  the  rule  of  the  satrap  and  the  carpetbagger, 
who  were  sapping  the  very  heart  blood  of  his  people. 

No  leader  was  ever  more  fully  trusted  or  more  highly 
honored.  As  chairman  of  the  State  Democratic  commit- 
tee he  was  one  of  those  who  helped  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  the  oppressor  and  to  redeem  his  State  from  the  thrall- 
dom  of  those  who  sought  to  crush  out  a  prostrate  people. 

He  never  sought  any  office  except  that  of  governor  and 
United  States  Senator.  In  both  these  high  stations  he 
manifested  the  same  industry  and  devotion  to  duty  that 
characterized  his  life  on  the  field  and  in  the  private  walks 
of  life. 

He  had  a  passion  for  work.  In  one  of  his  campaigns 
for  governor  he  wrote  more  than  5,000  letters  with  his 
own  pen. 

In  1906  he  was  nominated  alternate  Senator  and  on 
the  death  of  Senator  Pettus  was  elected  by  the  legislature 
as  his  successor. 

When  the  Democrats  secured  the  majority  in  the 
Senate   he   was   made   chairman   of   the   Committee   on 


[80] 


Address  of  Mr.  Burnett,  of  Alabama 

Military  Affairs  and  was  assigned  to  several  other  im- 
portant committees. 

In  his  career  as  Senator  he  was  thoughtful  of  every 
detail  of  interest  to  his  people.  No  little  pension  case  or 
post-office  matter  was  too  small  for  his  attention. 

His  humblest  constituent  was  as  dear  to  him  as  the 
greatest  steel  magnate  in  his  State. 

While  he  was  a  man  of  detail,  he  also  had  many  of 
the  elements  of  splendid  statesmanship.  Wherever  duty 
pointed  there  his  footsteps  led  him. 

In  one  great  case  which  came  under  his  jurisdiction  as 
Senator  he  knew  that  a  decision  one  way  might  mean  his 
defeat,  and  yet  he  believed  that  duty  led  that  way,  and 
with  splendid  courage  he  followed  what  he  thought  was 
right. 

His  fatal  illness  was  only  for  a  few  days,  and  his  col- 
leagues, with  sad  hearts  and  tear-dimmed  eyes,  listened 
with  bated  breath  when  the  news  was  brought  that 
Senator  Johnston  was  no  more. 

I  was  one  of  those  who  attended  his  funeral,  and  from 
all  over  Alabama  came  the  multitudes  to  mingle  their 
tears  with  those  of  his  beloved  State. 

When  I  saw  this  vast  concourse  that  crowded  the  little 
church  and  thronged  the  streets  I  said,  as  was  said  of 
another,  "  Behold  how  they  loved  him." 

He  died  as  he  had  lived,  "  on  the  field  of  duty."  He  is 
gone,  but  "  his  deeds  do  follow  him." 


87633°— 15 6  [81] 


Address  of  Mr.  Austin,  of  Tennessee 

Mr.  Speaker:  I  first  met  the  late  Senator  Johnston  25 
years  ago  when  he  was  the  president  of  one  of  the  lead- 
ing banks  of  Birmingham,  Ala.,  and  our  second  meeting 
was  here  in  Washington  after  his  election  to  the  Senate 
and  at  the  beginning  of  my  service  in  this  House  in  the 
Sixty-first  Congress.  During  the  last  few  months  of  his 
life  we  were  thrown  together  daily,  having  our  residence 
in  the  same  apartment  house.  There  not  only  grew  up  a 
close  friendship  between  us,  but  the  members  of  our  fami- 
lies soon  learned  to  love  each  other. 

I  had  every  opportunity  to  observe  the  official  conduct 
of  the  Senator  and  can  truthfully  say  I  do  not  believe  a 
more  faithful,  tireless  worker  ever  served  in  either  House 
of  the  American  Congress.  There  seemed  no  limit  to  his 
power  of  endurance,  of  constant,  ceaseless  toil,  not  only 
for  his  immediate  constituents,  but  for  the  country  at 
large.  Up  to  the  very  hour  of  his  fatal  sickness  he  was  at 
work  night  and  day.  During  the  long  extra  session  of 
this  Congress  he  was  in  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  not  only 
during  every  day,  but  in  attendance  at  every  night  session. 
He  did  not  leave  or  do  all  of  his  work  at  the  Capitol,  but 
performed  much  of  it  at  home.  Considering  his  age  and 
the  vigorous,  active  life  he  had  led,  it  was  a  marvel  how 
much  he  would  accomplish;  how  much  hard  and  difficult 
work  he  could  crowd  into  a  day.  He  was  so  true  to  the 
interest  of  his  people,  so  conscientious  in  the  performance 
of  his  duties,  so  anxious  to  continue  to  the  end  his  splen- 
did record  as  a  faithful  public  servant  that  he  let  no 
opportunity  pass  to  do  good;  to  accomplish  results;  to 
advance  and  promote  the  interest  of  his  beloved  State  and 


[82] 


Address  of  Mr.  Austin,  of  Tennessee 

Nation.  He  was  not  only  a  constant,  endless  worker,  but 
he  possessed  that  rare  virtue  of  always  having  the  cour- 
age of  his  convictions.  He  was  not  a  trimmer;  he  never 
dodged;  he  hated  hypocrisy;  and  had  no  patience  with 
the  demagogue. 

He  had  high  and  lofty  ideals  of  his  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities, and  hence  he  lived  the  life  of  an  honorable, 
worthy,  patriotic  statesman.  He  was  not  only  loyal  and 
faithful  to  the  State  and  Nation  he  served  so  well,  but  he 
was  true  and  devoted  to  the  countless  thousands  of 
friends  who  stood  by  him  in  all  of  his  contests  before  the 
people  of  Alabama. 

I  never  knew  a  more  considerate,  loving  husband — so 
full  of  gentleness,  tenderness,  and  sweetness  for  his 
thoughtful,  devoted  wife.  This  kind  and  genial  man, 
warm  and  generous  friend,  devoted  husband  and  indul- 
gent father,  fair  and  manly  opponent,  incorruptible  and 
courageous  public  servant,  was  a  martyr  to  duty,  to  the 
people's  cause.  Finally,  weary,  tired  out,  overworked, 
and  exhausted,  "God  touched  him,  and  he  fell  asleep." 

Tennessee  joins  Alabama  in  paying  a  just  and  loving 
tribute  to  her  fallen  leader,  her  brave  and  gallant  Con- 
federate soldier,  her  wise  and  progressive  governor,  her 
efficient  and  faithful  Senator. 


[83] 


Address  of  Mr.  Heflin,  of  Alabama 

Mr.  Speaker:  Again  the  flag  on  the  Capitol  has  stood 
at  half-mast.  Another  Member  of  the  national  official 
family  has  gone.  A  desk  in  the  Senate  Chamber  has  been 
covered  with  flowers.  A  United  States  Senator  is  dead. 
Alabama  heard  with  profound  sorrow  of  the  death  of 
Senator  Joseph  F.  Johnston,  and  she  mourns  the  loss 
of  a  devoted,  able,  and  honored  son.  He  gave  the  best 
years  of  his  young  manhood  in  battle  for  his  State  and 
he  spilt  his  blood  in  the  settlement  of  the  great  ques- 
tion that  determined  finally  and  forever  the  indisputable 
status  of  the  Union. 

When  the  war  was  over  he  returned  to  Alabama  and 
there  reconsecrated  his  heart,  his  strength,  and  his  all 
to  the  highest  and  best  interests  of  his  State.  Mr. 
Speaker,  in  reconstruction  times  he  was  a  terror  to  the 
vandal  horde  that  came  into  Alabama  to  incite  the  ne- 
groes and  to  plunder  our  people,  and  no  one  did  more 
than  he  to  protect  our  women  from  the  lust  and  carnality 
of  the  brutes  in  our  midst  and  to  drive  out  the  scalawags 
and  carpetbaggers  and  to  give  back  home  rule  and  self- 
government  to  the  State  that  he  loved.  He  helped  to 
bring  his  beloved  Commonwealth  back  into  cordial  rela- 
tionship with  her  sisters  in  the  great  household  of  sov- 
ereign States.  He  was  honored  and  loved  by  our  people. 
They  called  him  to  the  high  office  of  governor  in  the 
State  of  Alabama,  and  in  that  responsible  and  exalted 
position  he  reflected  great  credit  upon  himself  and  the 
people  of  the  State. 

He  brought  about  many  substantial  and  helpful  reforms 
in  the  civic  conduct  of  the  State,  and  his  administration 
was  a  distinct  blessing  to  the  people  of  Alabama. 

[84] 


Address  of  Mr.  Heflin,  of  Alabama 


Mr.  Speaker,  he  lived  to  see  a  man  born  in  the  South 
elected  Chief  Executive  of  the  Nation,  and  the  people  of 
Alabama,  having  honored  him  with  a  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  it  was  his  proud  privilege  to  serve  in  that 
august  body  when  a  southern-born  Democrat  sat  in  the 
White  House  as  President  of  the  United  States. 

His  was  a  unique  and  splendid  career,  full  of  faithful 
service  and  distinguished  honors,  and  he  died  highly  es- 
teemed by  his  associates  in  the  Senate  and  greatly  loved 
and  honored  by  the  people  of  his  State. 


[85] 


Address  of  Mr.  Abercrombie,  of  Alabama 

Mr.  Speaker:  We  have  assembled  to-day  for  the  pur- 
pose of  paying  tribute  to  the  lives  and  characters  of  two 
of  Alabama's  most  distinguished  citizens,  two  of  the 
Nation's  most  faithful  servants — former  United  States 
Senator  Joseph  Forney  Johnston  and  former  Representa- 
tive William  Richardson. 

While  I  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  a  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  each  of  them,  while  I  held  them  in  equal 
esteem,  and  while  I  purpose  to  pay  a  tribute  to  each,  I 
will  be  pardoned  if,  on  account  of  my  longer  and  more 
intimate  acquaintance  with  him,  I  should  speak  at  some- 
what greater  length  of  Senator  Johnston.  During  his 
incumbency  as  governor  of  Alabama  I  had  the  honor  of 
being  a  State  officer,  a  quasi  member  of  his  cabinet,  and 
in  that  capacity  had  an  unusual  opportunity  to  observe 
his  habits,  to  study  his  methods,  and  to  appraise  his 
character, 

Senator  Johnston  was  born  in  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina March  23,  1843,  and  was  the  son  of  Dr.  William  and 
Nancy  (Forney)  Johnston.  He  died  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington on  the  8th  day  of  Augusts  1913,  having  attained  to 
the  age  of  70  years  4  months  and  15  days.  His  funeral 
was  one  of  the  most  largely  attended  that  ever  occurred 
in  Alabama,  so  universally  beloved  was  he  by  his  people. 

In  the  days  of  his  youth  educational  advantages  were 
meager  and  beyond  the  reach  of  most  people,  but  not- 
withstanding those  limitations  and  the  exigencies  of  war 
that  called  him  from  the  schoolroom  while  yet  in  his 
teens,  he  possessed  a  highly  cultivated  mind.  He  was  a 
well-educated  man,  though  he  never  attended  college  or 


[86] 


Address  of  Mr.  Abercrombie,  of  Alabama 

university.  In  this  time  of  schools,  colleges,  universities, 
libraries,  newspapers,  and  other  educational  agencies,  it 
is  difficult  for  us  to  appreciate  the  obstacles  to  learning 
that  beset  the  youth  of  that  day.  Only  the  most  indom- 
itable could  overcome  them.  He  belonged  to  that  type. 
Indeed,  for  tenacity  of  purpose  he  was  equaled  by  few, 
surpassed  by  none.  Once  formed,  he  never  abandoned  a 
purpose  except  in  response  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and 
conscience. 

When  18  years  of  age,  responding  to  the  call  of  duty 
as  he  interpreted  it,  as  did  tens  of  thousands  of  other 
young  Southerners,  he  withdrew  from  the  high  school  in 
which  he  was  a  student  and  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the 
Army  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America.  He  served 
faithfully  and  gallantly  throughout  that  mighty  struggle, 
participated  in  a  number  of  battles,  received  four 
wounds,  and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain.  When 
the  tremendous  contest  was  over,  regarding  the  issue  as 
a  closed  matter,  accepting  the  result  philosophically,  he 
joined  his  fellows  in  the  task  of  rehabilitating  the  South- 
land, and  for  the  remainder  of  his  eventful  life  wrought 
heroically  and  effectively  in  that  stupendous  undertaking. 

After  reading  law  at  Jacksonville,  Ala.,  in  the  office  of 
his  kinsman,  Gen.  William  Henry  Forney,  who  was  sub- 
sequently a  distinguished  Member  of  this  body,  he  located 
at  Selma,  in  that  State,  where  he  pursued  his  profession 
from  1866  to  1884,  a  period  of  17  years.  At  the  bar,  as  in 
the  army  and  elsewhere,  he  was  successful.  A  man  of 
his  capacity,  diligence,  determination,  and  straightfor- 
wardness always  succeeds. 

As  is  the  case  with  most  successful  lawyers  Senator 
Johnston  was  a  good  business  man,  and  in  1884  he  re- 
moved from  Selma  to  Birmingham,  where  for  the  next 
10  years  he  was  president  of  the  Alabama  National  Bank. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  the  first  president  of 

[87] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

the  Sloss  Iron  &  Steel  Co.,  a  pioneer  in  the  development 
of  the  Birmingham  district,  and  many  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful business  and  industrial  enterprises  of  that  re- 
markable district  are  due  to  his  initiative,  foresight,  and 
leadership.  He  was  a  born  leader,  and  was  equally  at 
home  as  soldier,  lawyer,  financier,  and  statesman. 

During  the  exciting,  troublesome,  and  cruel  times  of 
the  reconstruction  era,  when  the  crushed  and  unhappy 
Southland  was  experiencing  a  perfect  nightmare  of  hu- 
miliation, injustice,  and  horror,  Senator  Johnston  was  a 
wise,  fearless,  and  efficient  leader  of  his  people,  and  in 
his  capacity  as  chairman  of  the  State  Democratic  execu- 
tive committee  of  Alabama  was  influential  in  the  ulti- 
mately successful  struggle  for  the  reestablishment  of 
white  supremacy  in  the  Southern  States.  It  was  largely 
through  his  efforts  that  the  white  people  of  Alabama 
regained  control  of  the  State  government,  and  it  was  but 
natural,  therefore,  that  they  honored  him  with  every 
public  office  to  which  he  aspired. 

He  was  elected  governor  of  Alabama  in  1896  and  again 
in  1898.  His  administration  began  during  the  great  and 
widespread  financial  and  industrial  depression  of  that 
period,  and  was  characterized  by  the  highest  types  of 
ability,  courage,  and  patriotism.  Taxes  were  more  nearly 
equalized,  schools  were  promoted,  economies  were  inau- 
gurated, business  and  industry  were  encouraged,  laws 
were  vigorously  enforced,  and  the  State  entered  upon  an 
era  of  progress  and  prosperity.  While  some  of  his  poli- 
cies were  assailed  by  political  opponents,  all  now  con- 
cede that  his  administration  as  governor  was  able,  pa- 
triotic, and  efficient. 

In  August,  1907,  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate  to  fill  the  unexpired  portion  of  the  term  of 
former  Senator  Edmund  Winston  Pettus,  who  died  while 
in  office.    He  was  reelected  for  the  term  ending  in  March, 

[88] 


Address  of  Mr.  Abercrombie,  of  Alabama 

1915.  As  a  Member  of  the  Senate  he  soon  won  the  con- 
fidence and  esteem  of  his  colleagues,  and  was  noted  for 
his  energy,  breadth  of  view,  cheerfulness,  and  devotion 
to  duty.  Indeed,  it  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge 
among  his  colaborers  in  Congress,  especially  among 
members  of  his  own  State  delegation,  that  his  death  was 
hastened  by  close  application  to  arduous  duties  incident 
to  the  frequent  and  continued  sessions  of  Congress  after 
he  became  a  Member  of  the  Senate.  His  colleagues  urged 
him  to  take  a  rest,  but  he  refused  to  do  so  and  went 
down  at  the  post  of  duty.  When  his  death  was  an- 
nounced, a  distinguished  member  of  the  Alabama  dele- 
gation truthfully  said  of  Senator  Johnston,  "  He  was  a 
victim  of  his  devotion  to  public  duty." 

With  all  of  his  varied  activities  in  secular  affairs,  in 
each  of  which  he  was  signally  successful,  he  did  not 
neglect  the  spiritual  side  of  his  nature.  He  was  long  a 
communicant  of  the  church  of  his  choice,  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  he  displayed  there  the  same  elements  of 
popularity  and  leadership  that  characterized  him  in 
secular  life.  His  church  conferred  many  honors  upon 
him,  and  I  have  never  witnessed  so  beautiful  a  testi- 
monial as  that  incident  to  his  funeral,  which  I  had  the 
honor  of  attending.  The  entire  city  of  Birmingham 
seemed  to  be  in  mourning,  and  every  portion  of  Alabama 
was  represented. 

Like  most  other  men  of  great  achievement,  Senator 
Johnston  was  in  large  measure  the  architect  of  his  own 
fortune.  He  began  at  the  bottom;  he  ended  at  the  top. 
In  both  private  and  public  life  he  was  wedded  to  high 
ideals,  and  no  man  was  ever  more  tenacious  in  the 
advocacy  of  the  principles  for  which  he  stood.  A  more 
determined,  a  more  courageous,  a  more  conscientious,  a 
more  patriotic  man  I  never  knew,  and  I  had  opportunity 
to  know  him  in  many  trying  conditions.    But  with  all  of 

[89] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

his  tenacity  and  firmness  I  never  knew  him  to  cease  to 
smile.  He  was  cheerful  under  all  circumstances.  In- 
deed, cheerfulness  was  one  of  his  most  striking  char- 
acteristics, and  fortunate  is  the  man  who  can  smile. 

Laugh  and  the  world  laughs  with  you; 
Weep,  and  you  weep  alone. 

A  man's  character  is  measured  by  his  ethical  standards. 
Senator  Johnston's  code  of  ethics  is  reflected  in  the  fol- 
lowing quotation  from  the  speech  which  he  delivered  in 
the  Senate  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  his  illustrious 
predecessor: 

It  seems  to  me,  Mr.  President,  that  a  man  who  nurses  an  injury 
and  prides  himself  on  relentlessly  pursuing  an  enemy  may  be  an 
able  man,  but  can  never  be  either  a  great  or  a  good  man.  *  *  * 
A  man  who  steels  himself  against  forgiveness  and  goes  through 
life  with  resentment  in  his  heart  will  never  command  the  admira- 
tion of  his  people  or  deserve  their  leadership.  How  much  nobler 
it  is  to  have  it  recorded  of  a  man  that  he  loved  his  friends  and 
conquered  his  enemies  by  the  generosity  of  his  disposition. 

Alabama  has  sent  many  able  men  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  years  to  come  she  may  send  many 
other  able  men  to  that  august  body,  but  she  will  never 
commission  for  that  high  service  a  man  of  more  stainless 
honor,  of  more  incorruptible  character,  of  more  un- 
wavering courage,  of  more  stalwart  patriotism  than  was 
Joseph  Forney  Johnston. 


[90] 


Address  of  Mr.  Mulkey,  of  Alabama 

Mr.  Speaker:  We  have  met  to-day  in  this  Hall  to  pay 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  two  great  American  statesmen, 
patriots,  and  Christians.  Both  were  an  honor  to  the 
Nation  and  to  their  State,  and  of  whom  it  may  truly  be 
said  that  the  world  is  better  by  their  having  lived. 

I  did  not  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing,  personally, 
Congressman  Richardson,  and  I  shall  leave  the  eulogy 
upon  him  to  be  pronounced  by  others,  but  I  do  not  affect 
to  be  ignorant  of  his  exalted  character,  of  his  achieve- 
ments in  public  life,  and  of  his  devotion  to  duty.  I  shall 
speak  to-day  with  reference  to  the  late  Senator  Johnston, 
whose  personal  and  intimate  acquaintanceship  it  was  my 
privilege  to  form. 

Senator  Johnston,  a  North  Carolinian  by  birth,  was  a 
descendant  of  the  Johnstons,  a  Scotch-Irish  family  which 
emigrated  to  America  after  the  battle  of  Culloden  and 
settled  in  North  Carolina,  and  of  the  Forneys,  a  Huguenot 
family  which  left  Lorraine  at  the  time  of  the  religious 
persecutions. 

His  grandfather,  Gilbert  Johnston,  with  the  latter's 
father,  also  bearing  the  name  of  Gilbert  Johnston,  resi- 
dents of  Anandale,  were  devoted  followers  of  Prince 
Charlie  in  all  of  the  vicissitudes  of  the  Pretender  after 
the  Battle  of  Culloden,  in  which  both  participated.  Both 
father  and  son  were  compelled  by  the  royalists  to  flee 
from  Scotland.  They  stopped  for  a  time  in  Ireland  and 
then  came  to  North  Carolina,  where  a  brother  of  the 
elder  Gilbert  Johnston  was  the  royalist  governor  of  that 
province.  The  elder  Gilbert  Johnston  was  outlawed  by 
the  Crown  for  his  adherence   to  the  cause  of  the  Pre- 


[91] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

tender,  and,  although  he  was  protected  by  his  brother, 
the  governor,  he  was  unable  to  hold  property  in  his  own 
name  on  account  of  the  law  of  escheat,  which  would  have 
forfeited  his  holdings  to  the  Crown. 

His  grandson,  James  Johnston,  was  a  colonel  of  the 
Revolutionary  forces,  and  he,  in  turn,  was  the  grand- 
father of  Joseph  F.  Johnston. 

Joseph  F.  Johnston  was  attending  a  military  school 
for  boys  in  Alabama  at  the  time  of  the  secession  of  the 
Southern  States.  His  brothers,  some  of  whom  had  grad- 
uated and  some  of  whom  were  in  attendance  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina,  all  enlisted;  and  Joseph  F. 
Johnston  also  enlisted,  at  the  age  of  17,  in  the  Eighteenth 
Alabama  Regiment.  On  the  promotion  of  his  elder 
brother,  Robert  D.  Johnston,  to  the  rank  of  brigadier 
general  for  repeated  acts  of  gallantry  in  the  field,  Joseph 
F.  Johnston,  who  at  that  time  held  a  lieutenancy,  was 
transferred  to  the  Twelfth  North  Carolina  Regiment  and 
became  a  captain  upon  the  staff  of  his  brother,  Gen.  R.  D. 
Johnston. 

Capt.  Johnston  was  wounded  four  times  during  the 
Civil  War,  and  in  the  fighting  near  Winchester  a  shrapnel 
exploded  and  a  fragment  of  the  shell  passed  entirely 
through  his  chest,  so  seriously  wounding  him  that  he 
made  his  way  with  great  difficulty  to  his  home  in  North 
Carolina,  where  he  finally  recovered  from  the  wound  and 
rejoined  his  regiment  before  the  close  of  the  war. 

The  family  was  of  course  impoverished,  their  available 
resources  having  been  invested  in  securities  of  the  Con- 
federate Government.  His  father  had  died  some  years 
before  the  war,  and  the  product  of  the  plantation  owned 
by  his  mother  was  barely  sufficient  to  support  the  mother 
and  his  two  sisters.  The  family  resources  were  further 
taxed  in  order  to  enable  his  elder  brothers,  Robert  D. 
Johnston  and  William  H.  Johnston,  to  complete  courses 

[92] 


Address  of  Mr.  Mulkey,  of  Alabama 

at  the  law  school  of  the  University  of  Virginia  and  at  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  New  York,  respec- 
tively. Joseph  F.  Johnston  was  accordingly  compelled 
to  begin  life  with  a  total  cash  capital  consisting  of  a  mule 
and  wagon  and  a  box  of  tobacco,  with  which  he  set  out 
for  Jacksonville,  Ala.,  where  he  began  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  his  cousin,  William  H.  Forney,  who  had 
been  a  major  general  in  the  Confederate  service  and  who 
for  many  years  represented  his  district  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States. 

After  having  been  admitted  to  the  bar  Capt.  Johnston 
moved  to  Selma,  in  Dallas  County,  the  home  of  John  T. 
Morgan  and  Edmund  W.  Pettus.  He  was  at  first  asso- 
ciated in  the  office  of  Brooks,  Haralson  &  Roy,  and  subse- 
quently, during  his  residence  in  Selma,  practiced  law 
with  Col.  W.  R.  Nelson  and  with  John  P.  Tillman.  He 
moved  to  Birmingham  in  1884,  at  the  instance  of  clients 
who  had  become  interested  in  the  Birmingham  district 
and  induced  Capt.  Johnston  to  retire  from  the  practice 
of  law  and  organize  the  Alabama  State  Bank,  afterwards 
the  Alabama  National  Bank.  In  Birmingham  he  early 
identified  himself  with  the  industrial  development  of 
that  city  and  district,  becoming  president  of  the  Sloss 
Iron  &  Steel  Co. 

In  the  days  of  reconstruction  Capt.  Johnston  was  un- 
sparing in  his  efforts  to  restore  normal  conditions.  The 
dangers  and  burden  of  the  civil  strife  which  beset  the 
people  of  Alabama  at  that  time,  and  particularly  in  those 
counties  in  which  the  recently  freed  blacks  were  largely 
in  the  majority,  were  no  less  acute  than  those  of  actual 
war,  and  for  his  consistent  and  patient  service  in  this 
respect  Capt.  Johnston  had  become  a  member  of  the 
State  Democratic  executive  committee  and  was  serving 
as  chairman  of  that  committee  in  1874  when  the  election 
by  the  Democrats  of  George  S.  Houston  as  governor  put 

[93] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

an  end  to  the  intolerable  regime  of  the  carpetbaggers  in 
Alabama.  Feeling  that  his  militant  service  of  his  State 
and  people,  beginning  with  four  years  of  civil  war  and 
ending  with  nine  years  of  no  less  tempestuous  political 
turmoil,  had  for  a  time  discharged  his  public  obligations 
in  that  connection,  he  devoted  his  attention  to  the  prac- 
tice of  law  and,  on  moving  to  Birmingham,  to  the  de- 
velopment of  that  city  and  district. 

The  experiences  of  Capt.  Johnston  and  his  associates 
during  reconstruction  days  constitute  the  most  pro- 
foundly interesting  pages  in  the  history  of  Alabama,  and 
it  is  unfortunate  that  complete  annals  of  that  turbulent 
period  have  not  been  made  available  for  the  historian  of 
the  future. 

It  is  quite  proper  that  we  should  meet  on  occasions  like 
this  and,  in  a  feeble  way,  rehearse  the  character  of  great 
men.  It  is  fitting  not  only  because  it  shows  our  appre- 
ciation of  their  lives  and  services  to  their  country,  but  is 
high  evidence  that  as  a  Nation  we  cherish  the  memory 
of  those  whose  judgments  have  guided  us  and  aided 
materially  in  producing  that  happiness  and  prosperity 
and  good  fellowship  so  universally  enjoyed  by  us.  More- 
over, by  it  we  teach  future  generations  the  value  of  great 
lives  and  the  importance  of  a  cultivation  of  their  ideals. 
I  would  not  want  to  live  in  a  country  which  would  not 
honor  its  patriotic  dead.  Failure  in  this  regard  is  the 
surest  sign  of  national  decay. 

The  erection  of  statues  and  monuments  to  the  dis- 
tinguished dead,  and  the  commemoration  of  their  lives 
and  proclaiming  their  virtues,  must  of  necessity  impress 
those  who  are  to  follow,  and  upon  whose  shoulders  shall 
rest  the  great  responsibility  of  guiding  this  Nation  to  its 
final  high  destiny,  with  the  idea  that  no  nation  can  long 
endure  whose  guiding  hand  is  without  virtue,  character, 
or  patriotism. 

[94] 


Address  of  Mr.  Mulkey,  of  Alabama 

It  is  our  duty  to  transmit  to  future  generations  the  vir- 
tues of  our  illustrious  men,  not  so  much  merely  to  keep 
these  men  alive  in  their  memories,  but  that  their  ex- 
amples may  be  emulated  and  their  high  ideals  adopted. 

No  one  need  be  alarmed  as  to  the  final  destiny  of  this 
Republic  as  long  as  we,  as  a  Nation,  delight  to  extol  the 
virtues  of  our  truly  great  men.  From  it  we  are  inspired 
by  patriotic  impulses  and  press  forward  with  more  deter- 
mined zeal  to  reach  that  high  mark  in  whose  direction 
their  own  strong  efforts  were  aimed. 

Senator  Johnston  is  dead.  He  died  as  he  lived,  in  the 
service  of  his  country.  He  felt  a  deep  interest  in  the 
progress  of  mankind.  He  directed  his  talent  to  their  ele- 
vation and  increased  happiness  at  all  times,  forgetting 
himself,  or  rather  unconscious  of  himself.  He  was  wholly 
unselfish  and  always  solicitous  and  considerate  of  the 
welfare  of  others.  He  never  did  any  act,  knowingly, 
which  was  calculated  to  deceive  or  injure  others.  He 
was  incapable  of  it.  He  was  delighted  most  when  he  was 
doing  something  for  the  comfort  and  well-being  of  his 
fellow  man.  The  ends  at  which  he  aimed,  both  in  public 
and  private  life,  were  his  country's  and  his  God's.  He 
was  a  godly  man,  the  first  great  essential  to  wisdom.  As 
a  soldier  in  the  unhappy  struggle  of  1861,  he  never  fal- 
tered in  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty,  and  came  from 
the  battle  field  to  a  desolate  home,  honored  by  his  people 
for  his  courage,  bravery,  and  fidelity  to  the  cause  he  so 
valiantly  espoused.  When  the  smoke  of  battle  cleared 
away  and  the  burning  issue  which  had  divided  the  two 
sections  of  our  country  had  been  settled  by  the  sword, 
he  took  steps  to  aid  in  the  rescue  of  Alabama  from  mis- 
rule and  to  elevate  her  to  that  station  among  the  States 
of  the  Union  to  which  she  was  entitled. 

As  governor  of  Alabama  he  distinguished  himself  in 
many  ways.     His  administration  of  affairs  was  noted  by 

[95] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

an  era  of  prosperity  in  that  State  without  parallel  or 
precedent.  He  urged  many  reforms,  and  his  ideas  were 
adopted  into  statutory  laws. 

It  would  not  be  appropriate  here  to  detail  his  great 
work  as  governor  of  the  State.  He  set  an  example  of 
economy  and  honesty  in  every  department  of  the  State 
which  has  resulted  in  its  betterment.  Through  him  the 
convict  system  was  placed  upon  a  more  humane  basis; 
reform  schools  were  adopted;  curtailment  of  child  labor 
in  our  factories  provided  for;  a  more  symmetrical  sys- 
tem of  taxation  inaugurated;  a  system  of  rigid  examina- 
tions of  public  officials  and  of  their  books  and  accounts 
enacted;  and,  in  fine,  the  interest  of  the  people  carefully 
and  scrupulously  guarded.  He  was  a  very  popular  gov- 
ernor, though,  of  course,  as  all  men  in  public  life,  he  had 
his  political  enemies.  But  they  respected,  though  they 
feared  him.  The  people  of  his  State  appreciated  his 
extraordinary  talents  and  powers  displayed  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  Here  he  shone  as  a  particularly 
bright  star.  He  was  a  constructive  statesman  and  yielded 
his  convictions  to  no  man.  In  casting  his  vote  he  did  not 
stop  to  inquire  whether  he  was  with  the  majority  or 
minority.  He  voted,  spoke,  and  acted  from  the  dictation 
of  his  own  conscience,  and  not  from  the  viewpoint  of 
policy  or  of  the  demagogue.  He  did  not  have  to  explain 
his  votes  and  position  on  public  questions  to  the  people 
of  Alabama.  We  understood  him  and  knew  that  his 
chief  joy  was  in  his  country's  good. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  candidate  for  re- 
election to  the  Senate.  No  one  seriously  doubted  that  he 
would  be  elected.  Almost  everybody  in  every  walk  of 
life  was  his  friend.  How  could  they  have  been  other- 
wise? Every  public  act  of  his  was  in  sympathy  with 
their  needs 


[96] 


Address  of  Mr.  Mulkey,  of  Alabama 


But  he  met  the  common  fate  of  men.  He  has  passed 
from  this  world.  Though  no  more,  yet  his  character,  his 
notable  achievements,  and  his  public  spirit  will  never  die. 
They  will  endure  as  long  as  time  itself.  He  was  true  to 
himself,  and  it  followed,  as  night  the  day,  that  he  could 
not  be  false  to  others.  But,  sir,  his  great  work  may  go 
on;  his  great  mind  may  be  engaged  in  the  amelioration 
of  mankind.  Of  the  future  life  but  little  is  known.  It  is 
shrouded  in  mystery  and  doubt.  We  all  dread  to  meet  it, 
because  we  do  not  know  with  certainty  what  it  is.  We 
think,  we  imagine,  we  often  suit  it  to  our  own  conditions, 
yet  none  of  us  are  satisfied  with  our  own  diagnosis. 

But  whatever  may  be  our  doubts  and  fears,  who  would 
or  could  deny  that  the  great  mind  of  Senator  Johnston 
did  not  die  with  him,  but  that  it  has  gone  to  a  happier 
and  better  world,  there  to  inspire,  improve,  and  advance 
in  a  greater  degree  than  ever  before  the  general  condition 
of  mankind,  and  who  doubts  that  he  is  now  exalting 
other  nations  and  peoples  to  a  higher  degree  of  right- 
eousness? 

Senator  Johnston  was  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school. 
He  was  eminently  safe  and  sane.  He  did  not  seize  every 
political  heresy  sweeping  over  the  country  and  nurture 
it  in  order  to  advance  his  own  political  fortunes.  He 
stood  for  the  Constitution  and  sound  government.  He 
was  not  swept  off  his  feet,  nor  was  his  judgment  dis- 
turbed by  the  vaporings  of  either  the  demagogue  or 
the  alarmist.  He  was  not  afraid  of  the  arguments  of 
political  revolutionists  as  long  as  reason  was  left  free  to 
combat  them.  Senator  Johnston  did  not  live  in  vain;  his 
life  tended  to  make  the  world  richer  and  better;  his 
examples  may  well  be  emulated  and  his  character  and 
integrity  serve  as  a  model  for  all.  I  repeat,  he  died  as  he 
had  lived,  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and  the  sky  upon 
which  he  closed  his  eye  was  cloudless. 

87633°— 15 7  [97] 


Memorial  Addresses:  Senator  Johnston 

adjournment 

Then,  in  accordance  with  the  resolution  heretofore 
adopted,  at  2  o'clock  and  22  minutes  p.  m.,  the  House 
adjourned  until  to-morrow,  Monday,  February  1,  1915,  at 
12  o'clock  noon. 


[98] 


